An Affair to Forget
by Krickitat
Summary: When Caught in an avalanche and separated from team 7, sakura is found by the last person anyone wants to meet alone in the snow. Now she is caught in a complex scheme where the lines between fantasy and reality no longer clear.ItaSakuSas
1. Lost in the white

Somewhere in the Snow

An Affair To Forget

Chapter 1: Lost to the white

Quick steps followed behind him. He listened to the hurried effort made to catch up with him, anger explicit with every snap of twig and bracken beneath her feet. She was making no effort to be as quiet as he knew she could be, and since they were on a mission, this could be a potential problem.

" Look, let's talk about this later. You know right now is not the time or the place," he whispered, trying to pacify her in the hopes that it would keep her from doing something drastic.

"No! I wanna talk about it now! How could you say something like that to me? What happened to 'I don't want be ignored anymore?? Huh? Well I'm not ignoring you now so DAMMIT TALK!" her words had slowly gotten louder and louder, finally ended on a shout.

Cold silence hung between them, hushed by the quiet hiss of falling snow and the angry heaving of her breath.

"Look, I'm just saying don't do anything that you might later regret. I know you didn't mean what you said. You know how important this is to me." He reached out his hand to touch her face only to have her turn away from him.

Tears left silvery tracks down her cheeks, reflected by what little moonlight there was. She turned her face up to the sky in the hope an answer might be written there and sucked in a breath, praying for courage to get out the next sentence.

"Was it all just some trick? Why now? Why this way? Why would you use me for something like that? Couldn't it h-h-ave.."

Her voice broke on the words, they would not allow themselves to break free from the confines of her soul. Some things were just too hard to say. She was too lost, too hurt, and in a way, strangely flattered that he would have thought to make it her. But in the end it was just another way to use her, it was just another way for him to get the thing he wanted and then think nothing more about it. As if it wouldn't tear her apart, and he did it all with no regrets and no apologies.

It was tragic...she was pathetic. She decided that the three of them all thrived on their tragedies, in one way or another, but she had too much to lose now. If she let him do this to her everything would be lost..._but it would have been so sweet_ her inner voice sought to tell her. If for just a moment it would have been the sweetest thing in the world.

Sakura looked up at Sasuke, a new determination in her eyes as she set in her mind the words she would say. The denial of the one thing she had dreamt of since she was young, in order to make herself strong enough to stand up to him...or any of them for that matter. She was more than tired of being the one they looked down on, the one who was ignored or left behind. Even Kakashi was guilty of this and from him it had hurt the worst. Without that Sasuke would never respect her, for it to mean anything other then a means to an end for him.

As the words poured from her mouth a large groaning came from higher up in the mountain. The snapping of trees and earth loud in their ears as a ocean of snow cleared a path for itself down the side of the hill, destroying everything in its way.

Right between the arguing lovers.

Sasuke watched as the avalanche broke between him and Sakura. Where moments before a young woman had stood with anger blazing in her eyes, there was a now a river of snow. And just that quickly she was gone. Sasuke felt panic burst awake in his head and a heartfelt shout clawed up his belly. He screamed his anguish into the now silent clearing.

"Sakuraaaaaaa!"

He screamed her name again as he rushed into the debris filled snow, calling her name over and over. Uselessly looking for a sign of pink hair, an arm or leg that he might grab to pull her from the frozen hell around him. All he found were broken branches and boulders carelessly tossed down the side of the mountain by the cruel hand of God

.  
And just that quickly she was gone…

Her mind drifted on a haze of semi-consciousness, unable to even comprehend the pain that wracked her body. Sakura opened her eyes slowly to blurred tunnel-like vision and saw the ghostly visages of trees shrouded by early morning fog. Her vision was suddenly blocked out as a shadow rose up in the early morning light.

'Saskue…Sas…I'm so sorr…I'm…why like this Sasuke? Why….? It's gone and I don't know why I mi-miss it b-but its go-gone…its gone.'

Sakura was aware enough to feel the warm gush of blood flow from her body as her movements opened old wounds partially clotted, her body making attempt after attempt to stanch the flow of life from her body.

'It….would ….have been….s-so …………sweet'

She sighed up into the dark face above her as she again lost consciousness.

Itachi looked down at the pink haired girl lying at his feet. It was obvious that the avalanche had carried her quite a long way. The snow had been sullied by her, in blood that continued to stain the pristine whiteness. He hated that, it just really pissed him off for some unknown reason. He looked on, content to watch as her life drained away. He'd always been fascinated with watching people die. It wasn't something most people got to watch every day. Then her eyes looked up at him glazed and unfocused, a small scratchy voice whispered a name he knew very well.

"Sasuke….s-sso-sorry…"

The rest was an indistinct blur to him, not that he really gave a damn. But this, this was different and it piqued his interest. He not so gently grabbed her hip and rolled her onto her back, one leg lay at an awkward angle where it had been smashed against a tree. At first he could see no reason for the large amounts of blood staining the snow, until he moved her. Large amounts of dark blood stained her inner thighs and continued to sluggishly pulse from her womb as a small life was pushed from her wrecked body.

"Very interesting," Itachi mused to himself as he continued to look on. Had it been his brother's child that had died here? This had some odd implications that he needed more time to think on. Unfortunately, she didn't have more time. Unable to avoid it any longer, Itachi picked the shinobi up and slung her carelessly over his shoulder. He made his way through the snow and back to his camp. Close to his ear he heard the final whisper she made as she finally lost consciousness.

"It would have been so…sweet,"

She sighed the words into his ear, making him pause and gaze into the early morning horizon. Maybe…but things are different now.

The boards creaked beneath Sakura's feet as she walked to her room. Team 7 had been training in the mountains and snow for more then a week now. It had been Kakashi's idea, but for some reason, Sakura didn't find the idea of standing in snow half naked and told not to move for hours on end as her idea of entertainment. The point of the exercise was to gain inner Chakra control and use it to keep blood flowing to your limbs while staving off frostbite and hypothermia.

It was easy for her but that didn't mean she liked it. The constant bickering between Naruto and Sasuke had given her a killer headache…Sasuke. Now that was one problem she just wasn't ready to deal with right now. Sakura had come to the sad conclusion that things between them were going nowhere and were destined to go nowhere. She was stronger now and he just didn't care. She worked so hard under Tsunade and had made every effort to be a strong, well-respected medical Nin, and he just didn't give a damn. So she had spent these last weeks ignoring him, as he deserved.

Sakura walked around the corner and there he was, waiting for her. Sasuke had been slumped against the wall. When he saw her he straightened to his full height, which caused him to tower over her. He had sprung up to a well-proportioned 6'0 ft while she seemed to hardly have grown taller at all. It still kinda pissed her off but it wasn't like she could train or will herself taller, but if she could she would have, just to prove her point.

"Yo,"

She didn't give a damn if that was the only word he could think to say after all this time. She chose right then to ignore him and she made to move past him into her room without acknowledging his presence.

Sasuke's face twitched and he suddenly burned with anger. He didn't like it when people ignored him or pretended he didn't exist. He found he was especially annoyed when Sakura did it. His hand flew out, grabbed her shoulder, and spun her around.

"What the hell is the matter with you?! I just wanted to talk to you, you didn't have to act like such a bitch!" Sasuke snarled at her face with all the anger that had been building in him.

Sakura turned her face away from his angry expression, she didn't understand why she was doing it. She felt compelled to act this way. She decided not to answer, the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat was going to make talking a risky proposition. She refused to cry in front of him…she was sick of herself crying around him and wanting and longing for things she might never get.

"Well? Are you just gonna stand there and say nothing? Why the hell do I bother with you?" Sasuke turned away, disgusted with himself for breaking down and yelling at her.

Sakura looked at him and opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out "…" and still the words refused to come out.

He turned back around to face her seeing the panic enter her eyes as they filled up with moisture. He slowly walked towards her and Sakura had the sudden image of being stalked by a large hungry predator.

"Sakura," he whispered her name as his hand came up to softly caress the side of her face, "Sakura, what's the matter?"

That lump in her throat seemed to be growing by the moment and the dam burst without her willing approval.

" I hate you!" she screamed in his face, forcing him to back up with the vehemence of her words. "I Hate you, you self righteous basterd! I hate you cause you don't even know HOW to give me what I want. Even if you cared enough to try."

She sobbed and seemed to lose her ability to stand upright, she fisted her hand in his shirt to hold herself up as real tears started to course down her face. Not the pretty kind like he had seen before but the kind that makes you cry so hard you can't breath or stand. Sakura stood there crying and gasped out what she had meant to say.

" I love you…. and I don't WANT to hate you. I hate that you can't love me back…and I hate that you think nothing of me…. but I don't want to I don't want to hate you…. so I ignore you cause it's the only thing I can do…. Cause if I don't think of you at all its easier not to feel anything for you...Sasuke."

The final word was a broken wail as she began sobbing into her hand. Sasuke did the only thing he could think of, he forced her head up by her hair and kissed her with all the passion he could muster.

Sakura felt Sasuke's lips on her's and she kissed him back with all the intensity she had used for crying. She felt him press her into the rough grain of the wall behind her. His lips left hers to trail a wet path down her neck and she raised her legs to cradle his body between her thighs. His mouth lingered on her collarbone as he pulled sweet flesh into his mouth biting down. He leaned back to look into her face, they were both gasping for breath, and he pumped his lower body urgently into hers grinding his hips into the warm sweet juncture of her thighs.

"Sasuke." she groaned his name as her core came into contact with his full erection. Unable to wait any longer Sasuke pushed open the door to her room and with her legs still wrapped around him fell with her onto the bed.

She lay beneath him thinking as he forced his tongue past her lips yet again 'Yes…yes THIS is what I wanted…this is what I always wanted.'

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A/N: If your reading this for a second maybe even perhaps a third or upward multiple time then you might have noticed some changes. Expect this throughout the story as my beta goes through and fixes alot of my little problems. If this is your first time well enjoy the story in its new improved state.


	2. waking

A/N: im making my authors notes shorter...isnt that nice of me?

Chapter 2: Waking

The girl woke to the feel of harsh wool on her face, the small wiry tendrils were aggravating, and she moved her sensitive mouth away from the irritation. The sound of soft voices reached her ears and she froze in an attempt to understand what they were saying.

"What are you planning to do with her now that you have her?" came a gravelly, disembodied voice.

"The kyuubi is very close to this girl. I can't imagine any way that we can't use her against him. One word that we have her and we won't even need to look for him. He will come straight to us." The voice was low and almost beyond her ability to hear, it was also soothing in a way she couldn't comprehend.

"Will it be that simple?" came the reply. Now that voice…it gave her chills in a way she didn't want to consider.

"Yes, I do." was the quiet rejoinder. She wanted to see the face that went with that voice, she wanted to know who this man was. She had an almost irresistible craving to see the other side of that calm cool detached voice.

She opened her eyes to a dimly lit room, the walls were made of crude clapboard. In the center of the dirt floor was a low burning fire pit. She was careful to take in her surroundings before allowing herself to look for the source of the voices. She finally forced herself to look at the two men sitting in front of the fire, and was more then a little shocked at what she saw.

One man resembled what she could only describe as a …shark? He was tall, with the collar of his coat pulled up to cover the lower half of his face that was tinted a slightly grey color, and his skin looked harsh like sand paper. As weird as that was the other was a surprising contrast of normalcy, what she could see of him. He had retreated back into the shadows behind the fire and stared intently into the flames.

She shifted her weight and her breath caught in her throat as flares of agony twisted up her spine, blinding and arching her body tautly. The pain was unending and seemed to just grow worse as she slowly came to realize how bad her injuries really were. Wave after wave of mind numbing pain made her cry out, the sound a sharp cry in the silence of the room.

"Shhhhh, Sakura-chan just relax into it…. take a deep breath and relax. The pain will ease."

She felt a light dry hand smooth the hair off her forehead as she tried to follow his instructions. She screwed her eyes tightly shut, took a ragged breath through her nose, and slowly let it out her mouth. All though the pain didn't go away, she could feel the hot claws of agony slowly release her mind from its grip.

Still taking deep even breaths she looked up at the man leaning over her and for the first time, Sakura began to question why she was here with these two men. She knew somewhere in her mind that this person SHOULD seem familiar to her but she just couldn't seem to grasp anything. Thoughts seemed to slip away from without her being able to fully grasp them. She opened her mouth to ask but was unable to remember what she even wanted to ask as a wave of confusion washed over her.

"Wh…. who are you? Where am I? Where is this place?" She asked in a weak sounding voice. She then had another burning question enter her mind, one that had to come out…but she didn't want this man to think less of her.

"Who Am I?" He stared at her with pitch black eyes that seemed to suck up every bit of light in the room creating dark shadows around his face. He continued to look at her and then he smiled widely, as if suddenly everything was right in the world.

"Darling, don't you remember? I'm Itachi, your husband. You were in a bad accident. We found this little abandoned cabin and we brought you here to treat your wounds. You are my wife…Uchiha Sakura. You have quite a bit of damage and were in a coma for quite a while. Things might be a little bit confusing but don't worry baby, it will all come back to you, I'm sure of it."

"Ooh," She said looking up into his dark smiling eyes and she was content with his explanation. She could believe anything when he said it in that low husky voice. She felt her eyes droop and a wave of fatigue overcame her entire body.

"Itachi, I'm so tired I'm sorry I can't seem to stay awake," she whispered. She had so many questions she wanted to ask but the thoughts wouldn't come together long enough for her to grasp any of them long enough to articulate.

"Don't worry Sakura-Chan, you go to sleep and I will be right here when you wake up," he picked up her hand and tenderly kissed the bruised skin on her knuckles as her eyes drifted closed and her breathing evened out.

Itachi turned to find Kisame looking at him with eyebrows raised in shocked surprise.

"W. I. F. E?" he silently mouthed at Itachi. Questions clearly written across his features. Itachi chose not to respond, he returned to his place in the shadows watching the pink haired girl relax into sleep on her make shift bed.

Outside the snow continued to fall silently adding another foot onto the already snow encumbered mountain. At this rate they would be stuck on the mountain until spring, which had been the plan but they hadn't packed in enough supplies to feed her too. It seemed that they now had no choice but to stay, all of the passes out of the mountain were buried. Even the most skilled ninja could get hypothermia and die out there. Nothing but extreme circumstances would be able drive them down now.

Itachi suddenly stood and moved to pick up his bow, a quiver of arrows, and the trapping kit he had been setting up all night filled with the wire and bait.

"We're going to need more food with her here." He paused, "Kisame? If you know what's good for you, you won't touch her." With that ambiguous threat he silently exited the cabin leaving a draft of cold air in his wake.

Kisame silently contemplated the girl...he HAD been ready to touch her. He wanted to the minute he saw her but he respected Itachi's power too much to go against him on this. Itachi usually didn't make ultimatums, he had to be serious if he was making one now. _Best_, Kisame thought, _to just sit back for now and wait to see how things went._ He raised his head to allow the heady scent of her blood fill his sinus cavities, savoring the flavor like one would an expensive sake.

_Besides I might still get my chance eventually_.

Itachi sat on the tree branch unmoving with his bowstring pulled back to his ear holding the line taught waiting for the small young doe to walk into his line of sight. She was a small red deer and her long graceful legs lifted gently out of the snow and were almost as deliberately placed in front of her as unseen dangers stalked her, she moved her head side to side looking for the source of her uneasiness. Itachi admired her in a way, most humans never even knew when they were his prey but she could sense it, without even knowing why she was in danger she just knew she was. The little kunoichi could learn something from this deer…she was far to trusting.

He saw his opening and let the arrow fly and it landed with a solid thunk right between two ribs to be buried deep in her heart. Startled by the sharp pain and sudden movement she bounded up and made two graceful leaps before her body gave out and she fell to the forest floor. He jumped down from the branch and cautiously approached the downed animal, even mortally wounded a swift kick could incapacitate a man. Her harsh breaths came slower and slower and she made as if to move her legs, he came to stand over the top of her and admired his shot, it had hit perfectly. He looked for a long time into her large moist eyes as the life slowly left her, he lifted his hand to slowly stroke the side of her muzzle and almost as gently he cut her throat with the other. One other thing he admired about deer…they almost always died gracefully.


	3. try just a little harder

Chapter 3

Sakura woke up the next morning with the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched. She carefully turned her head to the side to find the man named Kisame staring at her intently.

He was a friend of her husbands…so why did he give her the creeps like this? She soon realized what had woken her from her deep sleep, she had to pee but hell if she was gunna do it in front of this asshole.

"Ummm…can you tell me where is Itachi?" she quietly asked hoping none of her distress showed.

"Right here," came the quiet voice from the doorway. He was standing there in the open the wind teasing his hair and throwing snow in through the threshold. He walked in and carefully closed the door to keep more snow from pilling up.

"Kisame," but the grey skinned man just ignored him and continued scrutinizing the girl.

"Kisame," he repeated a little more forcefully but no louder then before, Sakura noticed her husband never said anything loudly. She guessed with her he just didn't need to. This time Itachi got his attention and he turned to face the other man the smirk falling off his face.

"The snow pilling up pretty high outside the cabin we need to keep the paths and windows clear." Taking the hint Kisame got up and reached for his coat, and slamming the door on his way out.

He walked over to the side of the bed to stare down at her, his facial expression never changed and even though she tried Sakura had no idea what he could possibly be thinking at that moment.

"What?" which was rather cold but ok she could get over that, it kind of made this sort of question a little bit hard to ask as well.

"Umm…I really have to get up, you know I have to…" she trailed off as he continued to look at her and now his eyebrow came up as he impatiently waited for her to finish, she was more then just a little bit embarrassed at this point.

"I have to go pee!" She opted for blurting it out which seemed the best course of action at the time. He nodded his head as if this sort of behavior was just to be expected, he then without another word lifted the blanket away from her and placing a hand behind her knees and the other under her shoulders he easily lifted her to rest against his chest being careful not to aggravate her injuries. It didn't matter it hurt like hell.

She felt agony race up and down her leg and all the way into the pit of her stomach making her want to throw up the little bit of bile she had in her stomach. Without really thinking about it she formed a quick set of complicated seals allowing her chakra to focus on the point of her hand and then easing it down into the torn tissue of her leg and stomach. She was panting heavily when the pain finally cleared enough for her to see, she looked up at Him to notice his eyes glowing red as he watched her perform the jutsu on herself. This shocked her enough that she was unable to hold the threads of her chakra and she let it go.

"It seems like your able to remember that well enough at least," He finally commented looking down at her. She didn't know where THAT came from but she was more the happy she remembered now if she could only remember again….

HE took her to the small un-adorned bathroom where he gently set her down on the toilet seat. He started to reach for the loose pair of shorts, which was all she was wearing besides the bandages that wrapped her chest.

"Um I think I can do it myself," she said hesitantly her face now a flaming red. He just looked at her with his mask like face and again the one eyebrow rose. He let go and turned around as Sakura attempted to pull them down herself, not only could she not do it but she suddenly couldn't hold herself upright any more.

Itachi turned around and grabbed her as she began to slip off the edge of the toilet, pushing her hands away he reached under her hips and pulled the shorts down. He kneeled in front of her and reached up an arm on either side of her to lean against.

She was just too embarrassed to do THAT in front of this quiet man and even harder was he was sitting right there WATCHING her. Her face grew even redder if at all possible and turning her face away she released her bladder the sound of it splashing into the water below and her heavy breathing the only sound in the little room. She finished and then looked at him and tried herself to pull the shorts back up while leaning on his arms. He let her struggle at it for a little while before just grabbing them and pulling them up.

He again lifted her into his arms and she was thankful that whatever she did had made a great majority of the pain ease away. He maneuvered her through the door then lay her back down on the bed. She again lay there starring up at the ceiling then turned her head to watch him working around the fire, she closed her eyes as she let the image of him oiling up his knife burn into the back of her eyes.

(-)

Im not a very nice person am i? look at how long i made youg uys wait for these chapters when you know...they had been finished for months. Thank AFF for being down because it has made me do alot of stuff i never would have before. So enjoy.


	4. Kisame is always good for that

LOOKIT! LOOKIT!  
i updated! arnt you proud of me?  
i am proud of me!  
this is like...unheard of for me.

anyways me no own naruto, but Sasuke remains chained to my toilet...do you think i should give hims somthing to eat? ims Sure he is hungry by now...oh well not matter im sure he's fine!

waaa! why do all my pets die?

ahh STILL no lemon...why you ask? because it s better when i make you wait!

Also to the reviews where people seemed to be confused i dont know if thats writing style or story line, please be more specific. My plot lines generally tend to start out rather tangled and then everything that seems confusing now straightens itself out in due time. I just think of it like this no thing that i write is without signifigance you can bet that if itachi wants to convince her that she is his wife then he has a damn good Itachish reason for that. Its not fluffy I think he is plotting somthing really sinister lets just hope sakura can catch him in his game.

Ha i will tell you Itachi is the m,aster of the mind fuck, even more so then Ibiki truth is he prolly learned it from him. So trust me...im going somewhere with this. And for those who got impatient well im sorry i was not able to please.

ok ive blathered enough  
happy reading!

Chapter 4

Sakura lay in bed and realized Itachi never slept in the same bed with her…. granted, she had been pretty beaten up at first but now she was doing a lot better, she was even getting to the point where she could limp around the small cabin if she held on to wall. She idly wondered to herself if he even went to sleep, he just didn't seem the kind of person who would ever let his guard down enough let himself rest in peaceful slumber. It was kind of depressing she really wanted to know what it would be like to sleep next to him, despite the fact that she was married to him everything just seemed so new to her…was that right? Should it really feel that way?

Sakura had been slowly become clear headed as time went on, images of her past starting to surface in her mind. Although she couldn't remember names she could clearly see faces when she thought about it enough. And even though it was unconscious at first her training was starting to come back to her fairly easily especially when she acted without thinking of what she was doing. The rest was just blank and try as she might to clear the images in her head they remained stubbornly absent of meaning.

She was doing a quiet study of them now watching Itachi and Kisame, they were both standing in the middle of the room looking alternately at the ceiling and then out the window where the snow continue to fall in lazy drifts slowly piling up against every side of the cabin that she could see every once and a while one of them would lean up and stare at one of the beams that led to the ceiling then stare once more at the boards above them. She had at first wondered if this was some obscure form of male bonding and contemplated the ceiling herself but found nothing there to cause such entertainment. All of this went on in complete silence, Sakura was sick of companiable silence she just wanted to rear back her head and scream, tired with this boring seemingly mindless activity she decided to roll over and take _another_ nap instead.

_Two hours later _

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

They were now walking on the roof, their boots making loud THUNKS overhead almost driving Sakura out of her mind each time she almost drifted into sleep another loud thunk would sound overhead reverbating through the timbers and slightly dusting her with grit and dirt. She gave up and lay back listening intent to find out whatever they were so occupied with on the roof but she was unable to decipher their conversation over the sound of the wind howling around the window casements.

_Thunk. Thunk. **CRASH!** _

Sakura bolted upright as one whole side of the cabin crashed in spilling splintered timbers and great piles of dirty snow everywhere.

"I told you that if you piled it all on one side it would cave in," Came Itachi's quiet reprimand.

"Yea, but I thought that side would be able to hold the most it looked sturdier then the other side besides this isn't exactly easy you know." Came the gravelly dfenisve reply.

Sakura grabbed onto the wall using it as leverage to pull herself up and limped over to the big hole in the ceiling at first squinting into the glare and then finally making out both Itachi and Kisame staring down at her, neither one seeming too upset that there was a big effing HOLE in the effing CEILING or the fact that the now melting snow was getting EVERYTHING wet. She looked around at the destruction then back up at the men staring down at her she tried to keep it in…she really did try…she started to raise her hands to her hips and dropped them down and stared at the ground for a minute then her hand sanpped up pointing at the two men and all the wrath just busted out of her.

"What the hell were you thinking! Of COURSE its gunna cave in if you pile it all on one side! Kisame no baka baka baka baka! Damnit I don't even know a word bad enough to call you except to say you're a freaking idiot!" Sakura's glare of death then turned and pointed to Itachi, "And YOU its not like you didn't have the excuse of not KNOWING he is an idiot, this is as much YOUR fault as it is his! What are you two gunna do about the giant fucking HOLE!"

Staring up at the men looking down at her Sakura finally felt the steam leaving her as the cold started to penetrate her thin layer of clothing and she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered her teeth chattering loudly. Itachi just stared down at her with dark emotionless eyes not replying to her accusations then turned and jumped off the roof, Kisame on the other hand just grinned manically down at her as he bared his teeth threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"Damn you're a feisty little bitch aren't you?" he continued laughing then turned and headed across the roof. Sakura's face went bright red but she turned around to look at Itachi standing next to her silently waiting for her attention. He was like that he just expected you to pay attention to him...she wondered what would happen if she ignored him long enough.

"Are you cold?" he asked her simply when she finally looked over at him.

"Yea, kinda I don't know that there is really anything else for me to wear though." She knew she had already looked through most of the belongings…strangely both men had clothes and supplies but she didn't have anything besides the clothes on her back. She was wearing Itachi's clothes anyways, at least she prayed they were Itachi's, well they didn't smell enough like fish for it to be the ghost sharks now that she thought about it.

One thing that grossed her out every time she came near Kisame was the fact that the man smelled like fish that has been dead at least three days…that had been sitting in the sun…filled with maggots. It was enough to make any strong person want to gag adn her stomach became decidely weak whenever she got to close to him.

She stared down at the soaked floorboards and moved her feet away from the spreading stain but was surprised when she felt instant warmth cover her shoulders. She pulled the coat that Itachi had thrown over her around herself more tightly and snuggled her face into the high collar quietly thanking him for the offer. He didnt seem to be cold at all as he stood there in his black net top and cotton pants even with his breath fogging the air in front of him.

"Get your things together were leaving and hurry up I want a couple hours to travel we've got about five miles in the snow to cover before it gets dark." He turned from her after that statement and started packing up gear setting it against the wall, she immediately turned and looked at the sleeping area wondering how much he wanted to bring.

"All of it," Was the quiet statement behind her. Sakura sweat dropped 'does he read minds? Seriously does he?' but she scuttled over to the bed and started rolling up blankets and cushions as tightly as she could. She had no idea how Itachi planed to move all of this but she trusted that he must have a way, she turned and started packing the pots and pans and spices that were sitting out near the fire pit, placing them into the storage packs brought along for that purpose, they were luckily a camping set so each one fit neatly into the other and folded away perfectly which was a small favor.

When she had packed everything she could possibly find she looked around at the now bare room and looked for some last small reminder of anything of significance and could find nothing. It was all a blank, she watched the dark haired shinobi enter the room once more and he started picking up packages and tossing them out the door to Kisame and she was amazed when she saw that they had rigged up a small cart into a sled with two long ties for someone to pull it. 'Pretty smart' she had to admit to herself, she doubted if she would have thought up something that good. But she noticed that some of the bags were being left at Kisame's feet while the majority of the rest went into the sled, even though it looked like they would fit easily 'Why not, is he going somewhere else? oh PLEASE say he is going somewhere else!'

Lastly the blankets and cushions were thrown on top of the whole affair with a tarp being thrown over the top to keep them from becoming wet. Itachi turned to her and before she could move the coat was taken from her…. did he expect her to walk five miles in the snow with only sweat pants and a light shirt? She shivered at the coldness and shivered more at the thought as her hip gave a low ache that she knew would only intensify the longer she was on it. She looked around her for some shoes or anything to to put on her feet when she was grabbed and hauled over to the sled where she was unceremoniously dumped amid the blankets and cushions.

She felt strong hands tucking the blankets in tight around her then the tarp was thrown over and strapped down tightly preventing any moisture from seeping into the blankets. She had only one little flap that she could pull up to peer out of and she did this as she watched Itachi prepare the rest of the sled tightening the straps then reach down to buckle on a pair of snow shoes. The flap was ripped back and she looked up into the grinning face of Kisame as he moved to block her view of Itachi, his hands drifted into her hair and he pulled till she felt the tension in every part of her head. She tried to reach her hand up to slap him away but they were tucked in too tightly into the blankets and she settled on glaring bloody murder at him instead, but he only grinned wider tisking at her sullenness.

"Now you be a good girl and wait for me to get back ok? I wont be gone too long, then you and I can play and have some fun!" He gave her hair a final hard squeeze then moved off into the snow and down the side of the mountain. Itachi came around the side of the sleigh placing his cumbersome footwear carefully in order to avoid the slopping sides of the wide shoes from trapping each other and tripping him. They were heavy and awkward but they were the best way to travel any distance in snow this heavy. There were drifts and snow fells just waiting to trap the unsuspecting traveler and the wide base helped to evenly distribute the wearers weight allowing them to walk on top of the snow instead of wading through it saving time and energy. He turned and watched as Kisame made his laborious way down the hill carefully placing his snow shoes down, then turning to her he grabbed the edge of the tarp and snapped the flap back over her head blocking her view completely.

She was glad to be riding on the sled, a luxury she had not even thought she would be allowed and sighed as she felt Itachi take up the ropes and begin pulling the weighty contraption they had placed the heaviest equipment on the bottom to avoid letting it become top heavy and she sunk down into a slight depression they had left to keep her from sliding around on top. She sighed as she heard him move to the front of the sleigh, poor Itachi, five miles in the snow was rough under any circumstances but pulling a sled? She wondered if he would even be able to do it and was thankful again for the warmth of the blankets surrounding her, adjusting them to plug any bothersome leaks of cold air that hit her skin. She lay awake knowing she would feel terrible to fall asleep while he labored so hard, she felt even worse when the sleigh slightly tilted indicating that he was pulling them up an incline.

But despite all his efforts the landscape made it impossible to reach his destination before nightfall and she felt the sled slow and then finally stop after about three hours and she pulled back the flap to look out at the darkening sky the weather had turned for the worst and snow fell so thick that visibility was limited to one hundered feet or less. He had pulled the sled under an over hanging rock with just enough shelter to keep out the snow but not enough to keep the biting wind at bay. She could feel him behind her digging through the packs he had kept close to the surface and she was handed a protein bar while she heard him ripping off the package of his own. It wouldnt really fill your stomach but it was filled with enough calories and protein to keep them until morning, she started to reach for the ties to get up and help him set up a camp despite her lack of clothing she just felt to horrible to force him to do it on his own. But his hand stopped her as he indicated for her to stay where she was, She lay back and watched as he pulled his now wet coat off and spread it out underneath the sled where the rock was bare of snow in an attempt to dry it out.

He then sat lightly on the side of the sled and pulled off his footwear also tossing them to the side deeper under the over hang but not that far fromt he sled, and before Sakura could adjust to the idea her warm cocoon was filled with cold feet and hands and elbows with not enough room to move away from the cold invasion. She heard him sigh as he fit his knees in behind hers and his feet rested on her legs soaking in their warmth, at this shock Sakura yelped and curled away then felt terrible as waves of guilt washed over her. She reached up and pulled the blankets and tarp back over the top of them, then before she could lose her nerve she reached back and grabbed his frozen hands and folded them into her own breathing on them in an attempt to bring life back to the blue tips but she couldnt seem to get enough heat generated to her palms so took a quick steadying breath and brought them up into her shirt and placed them on her belly where it was warmest.

Sakura thought her face would burst into flames as she felt just the underside of her breasts resting on the backs of his hands and wondered what it would feel like to have him move just that extra few inches up, to have him hold her breasts in his hands feeling the shocking contrast between her warmth and the coldness of his fingers, she had even been thrilled at the slow glide of his rough callused palms as she had dragged his hands up her belly to rest where they were now. But to her disappointment he didn't move them not even an inch, and she squashed a feeling of keen disappointment but she was soon shocked again to feel him sigh blowing the fine hairs on the back of her neck away, and then the gentle touch of cold lips and nose as he buried his face into the warmth of her neck. She lay there feeling his warm breath ghost on her sensitive nape as his heart beat and exhalations evened out and in almost no time she could feel him drop into sleep. Deciding to brave it she adjusted herself and snuggled herself back into him liking the feel of the strong lean muscles of his arms and chest now warmed by their little nest as the wind continued to blow out its fury outside. She quickly fell asleep glad that she had finally learned what it was like to fall asleep with him next to her, his heat surrounding her.

One dark eye cracked open at the feel of her tight ass grinding into his lap, and his cock made a feeble twitch of arousal and he rubbed her back but she was already asleep. Exhaustion over came him and he dropped back into a deep sleep before he could make a move on his intentions. 'No matter it will happen soon enough,' was his last thought before his mind blanked out completely.

that button...yea right there...oh yea baby you know the one.  
you wanna touch it dont you?  
i know you do  
your aching to penetrate it with your pointer arnt you?  
i can feel it when you caress it ooooohhh yea feeels SOOO GOOD

yes click it!

yes click it again!

CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!  
oh god yess!  
**PLEASE REVIEW**

(warning authoress is a total attention whore)


	5. Hot enough to burn

You called me on it I accidentally skipped a chapter and totally confused all of you myself included. So when I went to my files to look for the REAL chapter five mysteriously a good portion at the end had disappeared. I have fixed some small problems and this chapter five should work well as it is. When I am able to access my story on AFF I will add the part that is missing to the chapter five (now chapter six) that you all read……sigh in all a WHOLE lot of extra work cause ill have to do quite a bit of editing to make it work out well.

so anyways:

all legal disclaimers apply,

if i owned them nakedness would be mandatory!

oooh kakashi gets naked in my dreams

-softly throws water on Sasuke's face hoping to revive him-

ok well on to the story!

(v.v)

Chapter 5

Waking came with the horrible realization that she was stiff and unable to move, and that whatever warmth she had managed to keep during the night was now gone leaving a gaping hole of chilly air behind her. Sakura wondered how long Itachi had been outside and moved to pull back the flap to look for him.

'I didn't even notice him leave…' She mused to herself as she flinched from the frigid air that blasted into her face. It took her a moment but she finally found him standing at the edge of the overhang.

Itachi stood on the leeward side of the hill out of the wind with binoculars held to face scanning the land down below them. He was careful not to allow the sunlight to reflect off the dull painted metal as he slowly allowed his sight to trace the hills down below them looking for any pursuit…. not likely but he was always cautious. He lowered the binoculars then blinked furiously as his vision failed to adjust normally narrowing then widening as he strained his eyes to refocus…. shit it was getting worse.

He heard the girl stirring behind him and turned to contemplate her, her garish pink hair peeping over the top of the sled as she in turn looked for him. She smiled softly at him and she shyly pulled the blanket up over her nose, her eyes following his every movement….'damn it.'

This wasn't the way it was supposed to turn out of that he was certain, he didn't know what the hell he was thinking he had just said it with no fore thought just the basic idea that this was something he had to do. He turned away and scanned the hills lower down the mountain and noticed the black ominous clouds slowly making their way up the mountain, they were situated on the side of the mountain where bad weather was forced to make the climb from the lands down below. This caused a rainshadow effect drying out the lands on the other side of this mountain range while leaving the eastern side completely saturated with all the water that should have traveled hundreds of miles before releasing its load. (1) This is what caused these mountains to be buried in so much snow each year, it had even been known to reach 25 feet or more making this a very dangerous place during the winter, which is unfortunately why it had been chosen. No one else was stupid enough to come up here this time of year except for hermits and dumb-ass ninjas who thought they could defeat anything. That makes it a fair bet that staying up here wasn't HIS idea but he was now forced to live with it and make the best of a bad situation. They were still fairly far from the tree line but that was quite a ways up so the weather usually was forced up the side of the mountain below them. This is exactly what was happening now and Itachi estimated from the rate and size of the clouds that he had maybe three hours to get to his own secreted hide-a-way before the storm broke over them making any further movement impossible. Getting stuck in that weather in their condition would likely kill both of them, and it was too late to abandon her now.

He might have no qualms about killing someone in front of him, but he had surprising reluctance to abandon someone who depended on him so completely. If he left yea he would live but she wouldn't get far in her condition, but that sled wasn't going to make it…. they just didn't have enough time and he had overestimated it maneuverability. Pulling that thing was like trying to navigate a yacht up a stream, it tended to do what it wanted too and it took a lot of skill and strength to keep it from tipping. He had almost lost control of it twice yesterday but he doubted the girl even noticed she had been asleep almost fifteen minutes into the ride. All this took less then a minute and he made up his mind almost immediately, they needed to leave and they needed to leave now.

He turned and raced over to the sled ripping back the tarp and reaching in for the girl.

"What! What is it?" Sakura asked worry clear in her voice as she saw Itachi's urgency.

"We need to go, there is a storm coming up and it will be here in maybe three hours…but count on less. We have to abandon the sleigh I will be back for it after the weather clears enough for me to come get it." This was all said as he started pulling everything they would need to survive and nothing more and shoving it quickly into a pack. Sakura stood on the frozen ground shifting from foot to foot willing the cold to go away like she had learned in her training. But that was a very hard thing to do when you were half naked, half wet, with no real idea when you would get warm again.

Itachi shoved the pack at her, telling her to pull it on then throwing their blankets and a spare rain slick over her. Sakura carefully laid out the rain slick and stepped onto it waiting for Itachi to finish preparing, he went over and started tying down everything on the sled and fastened it up tight to a tree that looked as if it had been there as long as the mountain. Not likely to go anywhere even in the worst of storms, but before he could leave again he started searching one last time through their packs and Sakura watched as he pulled out a long red scarf then jumping up into the tree and tying it off in on of the highest branches.

Itachi came back over to her and turning around gestured for her to climb onto his back, which wasn't as easy as it would seem with a large pack on her back and shrouded in blankets, but she finally managed with fairly little awkwardness on either of their parts. Wasting no time he started the final leg of their trip this time traveling eastward away from the tree line but deeper into the heart of the mountains where few people ever dared to travel even in the summer. This part of the mountains was known only as the 'Heart' where the blood of the mountains spilled forth in the shapes of enormous dark trees filled with ever imaginable poisonous animal you could encounter, and the unfortunate last strong hold of regular demon clans, who were sure to keep careful control of their own domain, after the early demon wars the majority of the demon clans had been decimated leaving these sad pitiful remains of mostly small dark demons jealously guarding their small portions of land zealously. Few humans ever braved this area and even fewer of that number ever came out alive, but surprisingly there were small communities of people who had managed to live and thrive in these lands their whole life some just one large family living in a single cabin surviving off of what they could plant in the summer and what they could kill each winter in their traps. These were a people who were extremely distrustful of strangers, most humans who ever made it this far were not the kind of people to be tampered with, while some were demons disguised hoping to obtain an easy meal and maybe whatever few pretty baubles these mountain women kept stored away from prying eyes, leaving them on their guard from any attack from strangers and seeming friends. They were formidable even to regular ninja, they had just lived to long in a place where the very earth itself tried to kill you which made them hardened and wary.

It was to one of these cabins that Itachi was headed, located in a valley far into the foothills where the mountains soared high into sheer cliff faces all around them, their majesty a seeming threat to the sky itself their ominous lengths serving to block out almost all sunlight. He had immediately claimed it as his own when he had found it rotting unused, trekking up here numerous times to lay in supplies and enough weapons to hold off any assault. The hardest part had been reinforcing the roof and walls in preparation for assault, using earth style jutsus to subtly strengthen it, this itself had been such a chore due to the unusual granite of the area which itself suppressed chakra, secreting into every form of life that lived off the bones of the mountain. Only experienced chakra manipulators could work up here and only if they fully realized what was happening, It was what kept the main populace out of this area and even a good majority of ninja, most weren't skilled enough to stay out here any length of time without losing their ability to use Genjustsu and Ninjutsu. They had only been living on the edge of these mountains before but it had still been enough to keep Sakura from completely healing herself, and now it would be impossible she would just have to wait it out and let her body finish healing on its own time.

The valley itself was an attackers nightmare with only one narrow pass into it and no way to scale down from either side, he knew he had tried several times without success scouring every inch of the cliff face looking for entry and escape routes. In all his thorough searching he had only found one tiny track, almost invisible and it had taken himself days to find it and one man could easily hold the pass to the front for days if he tried hard enough. The mountains themselves repelled all attempts at attacks and what he found he had only made stronger, laying out increasingly lethal traps in any entrance to the valley, hoping the early non lethal traps would be enough to keep any prying visitors away and uninterested in his goings on. Every good ninja has a safe place to fall back to no matter where he is, especially a missing nin like himself, He chose not to fall into that group of ninja who clung to each other seeking to have what ever remains of normality they could find, banding together into groups and sharing their hiding places. He refused not to think of Akatsuki in such a manner, he didn't really think of himself as so much part of a group but as a person willing to obtain a goal even if it meant having to run with people he considered the scum of the earth which most of them were…except Kisame, he was really the only one he could stand which is why he had been chosen to work with him. But that was for different reasons all together and to even think about it was one step closer to having their plans revealed, which he had stressed on Kisame so many times that to let himself do it now would be hypocrisy.

It was two hours after leaving their meager camp that he came to the entrance to his strong hold, the girl was a dead weight dragging down on his back but easy enough to carry if you concentrated instead on the feel of long lean legs clamped down hard on your waist and warm breathe ghosting on the back of your neck and your ear for two hours…that was pleasant enough and he chose to focus on that instead of how heavy that pack she was carrying was and how her tight hold on his neck had made him go light headed from lack of blood to the brain…hell who was he kidding with her clinging to him like that there wasn't much blood going north anyways.

He carefully made his way into the valley, disarming then re arming the traps behind him. Not bothering to fix traps that had degraded over the year he had been away. There just wasn't time and the first forays of snow were falling around them as he moved at the fastest pace he would allow himself, his own traps were even dangerous to himself if he didn't do this slow enough especially due to the fat that most of them could not be chakra activated. If this was a normal situation he could just walk right through knowing that his chakra signature would work like a key to keep them from firing but they were all manual so they could easily backfire on any one un wary enough to try to barge through or work to quickly. They were optimally designed to kill unwary attackers, and keep the more experienced ones busy while he either prepared his defenses or escaped as the situation demanded. The whole journey the girl had kept up a constant chatter in his ear talking about everything from hairstyles to the weather, and but he just drowned her out paying no attention instead concentrating on their surroundings and allowing his conscious to drown in the constant background of her voice that had faded into low sultry syllables, if she would always talk that way he would always be interested in what she had to say.

The wind picked up throwing drifts into his face and fortunately for him this time of year the snow was no longer 'wet' like it had been earlier in the season and had now cooled down to the point where it was 'dry' snow that was much easier to work with. Finally the last of his traps had been bypassed, with the girl chattering at him the whole time…. but he wasn't fooled…she had been watching every move he made. He would have to reset and move his traps when he was able or this could fast become a liability. The last half mile to the cabin was made in quick order and reaching the overhung entrance he let the girl slid from his back and flipping switches and releasing secret panels he forced his way in through the jammed door using all his weight in against it to move the heavy frame. When he had set her down she hadn't moved very far, her small frame huddled in close to his back and she buried her face into the warm area where her belly had pressed into his back, but she quickly abandoned him once the door was open, making a dash for the dry interior out of the biting wind.

"Ahhhh! That's SO much better!" she exclaimed dropping the now wet sodden blankets near the hearth. It was a big improvement of anything they had seen in the last two weeks, Kisame's little cabin while adequate was drafty and uncomfortable with the bare minimum of anything. But Itachi liked to be well prepared for whatever he could possibly need, the cabin was set flush with the cliff side above it, and provided a cover from most of the areas deep snow, while it was still easy to get buried out here from all the snow it was no problem when he had entered he had found that this cabin had been a secret gold mine area with a discrete entrance into the mountain in the back leading down into the heart of the mountain itself…and one other very interesting thing, they must never have found gold here or at least not enough to make the venture worth it but they had found hot springs deep in the mountain, and it had been a more then pleasant surprise when he had found them down one of the more traveled tunnels.

Itachi had spent most of the last two days ignoring the cold that had slowly started to seep into his body but it refused to be ignored any longer, and unable to exercise and maintain her own body heat the girl must be feeling it even more then him. So after securing their few belongings and grabbing the pack he made his way to the back pulling the girl behind him.

(v.v)

Sakura squinted into the darkness then shielded her eyes as a light was struck then quickly caught onto a heavy reed torch, Itachi had led her back into a cave that lay behind the cabin and in the very wall of the mountain. She figured this area must be riddled with tunnels and caves, but why did he want to go even farther in?

"Itachi?" She asked wondering exactly what he was planning to do, she was more then ready for a fire and that bed back in the cabin had looked far to comfortable to pass up for this long. He again took her wrist in his grip and just keep pressing back farther into the corridors and Sakura carefully memorized every turn in case she had to make this trip on her own, it never hurt to be careful. Just as her frustration had reached a peak she smelled it…that scent she knew well enough to know it anywhere she went.

"HOTSPRINGS! HELL YEA!" it burst from her mouth without any conscious will of her own and breaking free from Itachi she rushed forward following the scent to lead her right too them. The sight of the water bubbling up into the underground pools was almost more then her heart could take and blessing every God in her personal repertoire started ripping off her clothes in preparation to dive into the heavenly water. Just as she was about to sink into heavenly bliss she was grabbed from behind and forcefully pulled her back from the edge of the pool. Setting her down on a stone bench Itachi scowled at her fiercely a look of supreme annoyance on his face.

"Don't ever do that again," he stated quietly raising the hairs on the back of her neck, she could tell he was really angry, "I haven't been here in over a year, any shift in the mountains and this water could easily be over two hundred degrees or have become acidic. You have to test it first every time or else you could be boiled to death before you even had a chance to think about jumping out."

Properly chastened Sakura moved her hands up to cover her now vulnerable body, Itachi just stared down at her and sighed. At least the air here was warm and it was already getting to him. Walking away from her he crouched down at the edge of the water he let his hand slowly glide over the surface of the water then let just the back of his hand drift into the water waiting for anything to happen. It was a little hotter then he usually cared for but right now he didn't really give a damn he just wanted to be warm. He lifted his hand and looked for any discoloration or feeling that might indicate unhealthy chemical levels in the water but was thankful when he found none. He turned to the eagerly anticipating girl and allowed himself a moment to admire the beautiful view offered up to him, with her long slim legs and beautiful pink bush peeping out at him as he crouched right at a level to see right between her thighs. Noticing his perusal Sakura quickly clenched her thighs tightly together then after a second thought slowly let them open oh so slightly, fascinated by how his eyes followed every movement playing over the shadowed skin in the firelight.

"You can get in now…. just take it slow you have been cold for a long time and you will be hypersensitive to the heat until your body adjusts." He pulled his eyes away from the tempting view she had just teased him with and went to light the small lanterns that had been left by the previous occupants which he had been careful to maintain, finally extinguishing the torch. He was amused by the little splashes and squeals he heard behind him as she slowly immersed herself, her skin shocked by the sudden change in temperatures. There was something about hearing a woman squeal like that that worked to make a man hard as a rock, and he quickly thought of other things to get his body back under control as he slowly started disrobing unable to resist the lure of the hot water and the tempting little female in it any longer. He turned to find her floating on her back in the middle of the underground pool her arms and hair gently floating out around her making a soft pink halo around her head. Mineral deposits in the water had slowly built up a reflective shield under the water and small crystals under the water caught the lamplight and reflected back all around them throwing light unto the ceiling leaving her body in gentle glowing relief. Her eyes were closed with look of ecstasy on her face as the water lapped around her skin and eased the tight burning pain in her hip and leg. Itachi responded the most to that look on her face wishing that it had been his hands and his mouth that had brought that look to her but glad just the same that he could give her this kind of pleasure, it was also another proven fact that a man could get the greatest pleasure just from a look on a woman's face, while women are turned on by experiences and touching or talking men are visual creatures and are built to respond to a woman's' pleasure. While some men can get off on a look of pain on a woman's' face it isn't that far from pleasure, the look a woman would give during an orgasm looks a lot like pain and it is this expression that many men get off on. Although Itachi was experienced enough to know that men who got off on a look of pain on a woman's face were usually men who were unable to give women a look of such extreme pleasure that it could look like pain. That was the ultimate, and Itachi wondered how much it would take to make her look give him that expression…not just contented happiness like now, but excruciating pleasure. He started to plan just how he could get her to give him that expression and continued to watch and gently play over her body with his mind wondering which was more sensitive to kissing…her neck or her belly?

Sitting down on the edge of the pool he eased himself into the water and waded closer to better enjoy the view of pert breasts gently floating on the water, gently lapped and caressed by the warm water, the lantern light outlining her skin with a radiant warm glow making him think of heated sweaty bodies writhing. Occasionally a large waft of steam would raise and hang about her blocking her from his view just lifting enough to give him tantalizing views teasing every one of his senses. He lay back against the edge of the pool resting his head back in a perfectly formed hollow depression, and allowed his eyes to fall half closed leaving him with a rare sleepy sultry look on his face his eyes never leaving the girl floating gently on top of the water slowly drifting closer to him. Without warning she turned to him and swam closer and looked back into his dark midnight eyes, with their dark fathomless gaze staring back at her. She had never seen him look this…. content. It was odd but comforting like looking at a tiger lazily napping in a warm patch of sunshine, fascinating in an exciting way knowing just how fast it could change from lazy and sultry to a lethal predator able to take her out with one sweep of his wicked claws. Maybe not a tiger…more like a panther waiting up in the trees watching its prey with searing eyes, she wanted to touch him she wanted to tangle her hands in all that dark hair floating in the water around him. She cautiously approached and when he made no move other then to continue to stare at her she let her body drift until she was just within reach of him, she almost backed away when he made a sudden grab for her, he didn't rush one minute he was just laying there and the next he had grabbed her and settled her there on top of him with no time for her to even realize. He lay his head back into the rock and with one arms thrown over her back holding her up onto his chest he let the other idly stroke her head pushing her hair off her forehead then stilling just laying there a heavy weight on the back of her head forcing her to rest her face on his strong chest, letting her relax into the embrace. Emboldened by her sudden move Sakura gently rubbed herself into his body waiting for a reaction, when he made no move she looked up but was surprised to find those dark fathomless eyes closed and even breaths falling on her face. His exhaustion had finally taken over and with the final push of the water he had fallen into a deep sleep.

'I guess I just always exhaust him,' she thought and then giggled silently to herself 'now if I could only exhaust MYSELF as well that would be even better!' she thought about what it would take to exhaust the both of them and her face immediately turned a bright crimson as the naughty thoughts danced through her mind. But she was tired as well and warm for the first time in that would seem a month and sleep didn't take very long to find her either. Soon the only sound that could be heard in the room was the gentle lapping and bubbling of water and the soft exhalations as the two slept on.

(v.v)

Outside the snow continued to sift down from storm-laden skies, the cold hardly felt by the couple deeply ensconced in their warm little hideaway. Down below things weren't going so well as great gusts of wind drove snow before them whiting out all visibility the snow piling up at an incredible speed forcing the men too look for shelter…. all except for one.

"Sasuke! Sasuke come on! We cant stay out here Sasuke we cant see a foot in front of us, if you force the rest to go on were only going to die out here!" Kakashi forced his voice over the roar of the wind his words seemingly ripped from his mouth before they could reach out to Sasuke. They had been out here searching since the avalanche and what had at first been a rescue mission had slowly turned into a recovery mission until finally every one today had to admit that some one had either saved her and she couldn't come home…. or she was dead buried under the snow. A foot at least had fallen since the last hour and any hope of finding her body was lost until spring, The rest of them at least could admit to that and though it hurt Kakashi had to think of every one else. He couldn't continue forcing them out into the snow too look for a dead woman even if it was Sakura. That thought it sent a bolt of pain through his chest as he slowly let the realization that she was most likely dead enter him.

But Sasuke ignored him just like every time before, he ignored everyone's pleas and just kept walking and slowly covering the ground in front of him calling her name and sifting his hands through the snow not stopping to sleep until exhaustion over took him barely stopping to eat living off of protein bars he could eat while walking he forged on forcing all the men with him to work at his pace frantically pushing them on…. even past the point where everyone knew she could not have possibly survived. Finally as the wind picked up again Kakashi came up behind him and praying for his students forgiveness pressed the Frimera point (2) in his neck sending his consciousness into blackness. Throwing the inert body over his shoulder he grabbed a hold on the line leading back to the camp and the other men, and looked back once more over the wreaked field behind him the wind whipping sharp stinging snowflakes into his eye, 'Goodbye Sakura…weather your dead or alive somewhere out there, I'll see you in the spring.' Then feeling the moisture freely falling down his face forced himself back to camp…. and back to Konohagakure.

(v.v)

So what did you think? Please review and let me know!

And for those of you who just follow the story and don't review….much love to ya! I LOVE you guys who are the silent masses!

(1)Let me tell you a little bit about rain shadow effects cause I feel this is important…. Rainshadows are when weather systems move inland from the ocean and due to a large range of mountains blocking their movement are forced to dump all their precipitation on the ocean side of the mountains usually leaving the other side a desert while the ocean side is very productive although the land may suffer from extra nitrogen levels etc. Now this can vary in degree from nearly un-noticeable to extreme…like the Sierra Mountains, and in my own case Western (where I live) and Eastern Washington state which has three count them THREE significant mountain ranges one of them the cascades splitting the whole state in half and part of Oregon extending all the way into Canada…. that's a big mountain range kids I just have to tell you. The fact is they might very well be two different states because this effect doesn't just have topical effects it has an effect on the very culture of the people living there. So while some lands laying off shore can be desert like and don't ask me to explain that cause I have just never lived there so I don't know the example we are shown in the narutoverse can only explain Suna being caused by this…and it would of course be windy because it's a desert…and wind is caused by heat…. well that's a close enough description for this class I suppose. I don't know if there is a large mountain range shown on the maps…. but it has to be there somewhere or else they just wouldn't have those conditions, they would get to much precipitation from Konoha unless there are other drastic land changes besides mountains that would cause it….

If anyone wants to debate this I would be happy too! XD ive been looking for a fight

Ha ha ha! See I AM intelligent…. Mrs. Worthington would be so proud of me…I am sure she thought I wasn't paying attention all those years ago in geography but HA I WAS!

(2) You know when you see guys in movies just reach out and squeeze a little point in the neck and WHAM people just go out like a light? Well I don't really know what it is called in Asian philosophy but in European/American circles it is generally referred to as the Friemera point. Forget the spelling, I could be wrong about the spelling but I am right about the name. I should know… I had to take anatomy and physiology and man I had to take SOOO many kinesiology classes to pass my state board exams.. And since we do so much stuff where we are working on adjusting and correcting the neck we are required on stuff NOT to do…and unfortunately in some cases knocking unconscious is frowned on.

My constant struggle is your entertainment, i strive to entertain and enlighten in all way


	6. Sin with me sakura

An Affair to Forget

Chapter six:

Sin with me Sakura

AN: Why did this piece change its name? Well because somewhere in the snow was actually a last minute decision that I was never very pleased with. And well I FINALLY came up with a good name! YAY!

Anyways it rolls off the tongue much easier I believe. Woo hoo this is the first time I have touched this piece in several months but I made promises and threats were made so I pick up my key board once more and oil up my mouse and hunch down over my computer sufficiently recovered from the loss of my computer chair.

Also there was recently a HUGE mix up with chapters and where they belong so I suggest that you go back and start reading from the end of chapter four again or else your gunna be lost and even more confused then I made you last time I posted.

See first chapter for disclaimer

(v.v)

Sakura blearily woke once more to uneasy feeling of being draped in someone's arms and complete darkness, and she realized that Itachi was carrying her somewhere in the dark silence of all these tunnels. Which would make sense since he no longer had a hand free to hold a torch but he leaned into the door and they were flooded with light at the same time she was flooded with the realization that she was still completely naked except for a towel draped around her. Itachi was wearing a spare set of clothes that from the smell had obviously been a pair he had kept here for just this reason, and she turned over to see a warm fire going in both fire places with blankets and clothes hung all around in order to get the most of the heat steam coming off them in gentle waves as they dried out. Sleepily she watched as he kicked open a futon near the hearth fire and he set her down on it, she grabbed the blankets and pulled them around her as she blearily stared into the fire just allowing a moment for her brain to completely relax and not think while she watched as he went around the room check clothing here or every once and a while turning a blanket as it dried. Finally allowing herself to think, she remembered that she at least had not eaten for quite a while, and was more then ready too now.

"Is there any food…I mean is there anything in particular you would like me too cook? I'm getting pretty hungry I'm sure you are as well…" she stammered to a stop as he turned to look at her then pointed with his chin to door set into the wall beside the one that led into the tunnels. Pulling the top blanket around her toga style and tucking the ends in, she headed back there to see what she could find to make. She opened the door and she was amazed at the large pantry filled with boxes and boxes of food…. most of it canned but all of it perfectly preserved. She spent the next fifteen minutes sifting through everything back there coming across canned fish and meats and quite a lot of dehydrated fruits and canned veggies, and even found some old army issue MREs, full meals filled with every kind of carbohydrate and protein to keep a fighter going as long as possible on very little. Too her delight she also found a huge stash of candy bars 'uggggh with almonds, damn I hate almonds.' But it was still chocolate and that was enough to be thankful for and there were still quite a few that didn't…but most of them had almonds damnit.

She quickly gathered enough for her to make a decent meal and at the last minute grabbed two candy bars as well for desert, then looking over at a can of fruit sighed and put them back picking up the fruit instead. 'Once past your lips, forever on your hips I guess.' The fruit and vegetable really were necessary if they were to spend any amount of time here eating nothing but canned meats and MREs. Without them they would soon find themselves the victims of scurvy, with increasing watery bowels, bloody gums then finally tooth decay and loss. Your teeth eventually just fall out and while it doesn't SEEM like it would be such a big deal a lot of people find it sneaking up on them without even noticing. People this day and age still got scurvy just from a lack of vegetables and fruits in their diet, excusing it as only something sailors got way back when but that wasn't true.

Itachi and Sakura were in a perfect position where they could easily fall to this and it was obvious that Itachi was more then aware of this when he chose to stock this place. Meat only made up about 20 of his stores while the rest was dominated by vitamin enriched veggies, fruits, and canned milk hopefully to be supplemented by fresh meat intermittently. Most mountain people lost a good majority of their teeth early due to a lack of foresight into this problem. But that would be hard to do with all of this, he even had dried vegetables especially chives, leeks, and onions. And wonders of wonders, only one case of ramen, rare…extremely rare, but thankful nonetheless. Sakura didn't really understand why she had an aversion to ramen she was just thankful it was hardly there and that she wouldn't have to live off the damn stuff for however long they would be stuck here which from what she had overheard was going to be quite a while.

Picking up her packages she went back into the other room and finding the appropriate cabinet for the pans she would need started on a simple meal of rice, miso soup, powdered egg and stir fried greens. Careful to exactly measure each portion she looked over to find Itachi watching her from his corner where he had started to lay out all the items that had been in the pack, she grabbed her blanket as it began to slip and did her best to keep it from either falling into the fire or into the food. She just hoped her clothes dried out soon although she didn't look forward to wearing the same clothes for forever. Itachi got up and quietly left the room just as the food finished cooking and she set it by the fire to keep warm and waited for Itachi to return from back in the tunnels. While she waited she decided to explore the cabin starting with all the cupboards around her then moving into the other room. She heard Itachi come back in, and heard as he dropped a load of firewood into the box.

Her thoughts came to a crashing halt as she turned back to the cabinet she had been exploring and screeched when she looked to see a large pile of clothes sitting there. 'That jerk! He just let me walk around in a blanket making me think there was nothing to change into!' She stormed into the other room brandishing a pair of pants at Itachi but was stopped at the smirk on his face as her blanket once more came undone this time falling completely off. She squeaked and hurriedly pulled on the pants and snatched the blanket back up in front of her knowing she had just lost any credibility in her argument.

"Why didn't you tell me you had other clothes for me to wear!" she demanded angrily.

"I thought when you saw me wearing new clothes you would just get the idea…then you put on that cute little blanket and then I just didn't want to tell you." Leaving it at that he started to arrange new logs on the fire then reached for his plate of food quickly digging in, smirking up at her expression all the while. Sakura's face faulted and a large vein began to twitch on her forehead, instead of screeching like she wished she turned smartly on her ankle and stormed back into the other room to grab a shirt and head back to sit down and eat her food glaring at him the whole time.

(VVVVVVVVVVVV)

Dark eyes caressed the soft candle lit curves that seemed to soak in the light and produce it three fold, a thing generally referred to as a woman's glow and he had to admit that it fascinated him. He lifted his own arm in comparison and while the skin itself resembled fine alabaster marble with thin blue veins just below the skin it in no way could be described as glowing. Itachi briefly considered the idea that maybe a woman's chakra paths just traveled closer to the surface of the skin, but quickly discarded the idea as ridiculous. He just couldn't take his eyes away as she tided up after dinner, washing the simple tin plates. She stood and looked about the one room that was open to them after Itachi had declared before their bath that their bedding would be moved into the main room in order to preserve fuel. He watched with amusement as she straightened the bedding he had dragged into the room earlier, then began touching and arranging everything around her to her satisfaction. Something he had often observed about some women they had to adjust everything in their surroundings to fit specifically to them. Especially if they felt a man had done an inadequate job or they were suspicious that another woman might have touched and arranged a place they thought of solely as their own.

Which was true most of the furniture in the room, it had belonged to the previous owners and he had done very little to change it. But what surprised him was that she instinctively had a feel for the woman who came before her and out of possessiveness thought to rearrange everything so that no sign of the other female existed in the room any longer. Women really were fascinating, he thought idly once more to himself. Her glances would sneak over to his darkened side of the room and she would attempt to find the eyes that she knew were watching her, but all attempts were half hearted. Her face heated and she turned away to once more circle the room, rearranging previously arranged things in an attempt to ignore his probing eyes. After they had woken up in the hot spring this awkwardness had been apart of her every movement, he had been more then willing to initiate his plan then but every touch from him had caused her to stiffen up and push away so he would allow her a little time to settle down.

Itachi just continued to watch her and he keenly felt the somber mood the room had taken once there was nothing else to talk about. At least on her part, Itachi himself was completely fine with the silence, he let his eyes wander to the simple futon lying close to the fire pit shoved into a corner of the wall to best retain heat on all sides. He thought about laying her down among those blankets and furs, wedging her body up against the wall and-

But his gaze immediately swung back to her when he heard the first soft strains of an unfamiliar song and he leaned forward as her voice grew stronger. Staring into the fire she let the song flow from her throat, not acknowledging the interested stare she could feel on the back of her neck.

_Where are you this moment  
Only in my dreams  
You're missing, but you're always  
a heartbeat from me._

_I'm lost now without you.  
I don't know where you are.  
I keep watching,  
I keep hoping,  
but time keeps us apart. _

_Is there a way I can find you?  
Is there a sign I should know?  
Is there a road I could follow,  
to bring you back home?_

_Winter lies before me,  
Now you're so far away  
In the darkness of my dreaming   
The light tore, you will stay_

_If I could be close beside you  
If I could be where you are  
If I could reach out and touch you  
And bring you back home_

Is there a way I can find you?  
Is there a sign I should know?  
Is there a road I could follow,  
to bring you back home?  
To me...

The last two words died on the last strains of the hauntingly slow song and she let her chin rest down on her chest as her eyes stayed glued to the fire. The soft quiet shuffle of clothing behind her was the only warning before she felt a warm breath on the back of her neck. Long fingers reached around to cup her throat slowly gliding up to stroke her jaw and cheek.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of such a beautiful song?" She shivered when she heard the breathy question blown into her ear.

"I don't know I just…I guess I've always liked that song and suddenly it just seemed so right to sing it, that's all. I guess I just felt like singing. Why, did it sound all right?" her shoulders shrugged to cover her slight tremble when she felt his body come in full contact with her back.

"You sang the song well. You just sounded so sad…like you were the one who lost something very precious." He complemented once more, switching his mouth to the other ear while his fingers continued their slow journey along her jaw causing goose bumps on the flesh to rise in its wake as he gently tugged on her ear lobe, tracing the inviting swirls of her ear, drawing all of her attention to the sensitive erogenous zone. He tilted her head to the side with a tiny push with the backs of his fingers and his mouth sought out the inviting divot where her neck met her shoulder. She angled her head more to receive the most from his light tantalizing ministrations, she thought for a moment to push away once more but was convinced to stay by the arms that settled around her.

She groaned when strong teeth nipped at the skin just below her jaw and she leaned farther into the body that was cupping hers from behind. The fire cracked and popped but was ignored by the two kneeling, basking in each others warmth more then that thrown off from the flames. The hands that had been stroking her face soon moved on eagerly to explore more enticing areas. They traveled down over her shoulders and arms to stroke and caress the tips of her fingers then gliding up the insides of her wrists to her ultra sensitive ribs and belly.

She gasped again despite the fact that he was using nothing more then the back of his fingers. She felt it in every part of her body like electricity, the arched from his fingers, to the very core of her body. But instead of shock and pain it left heat and gentle seductive lassitude. Without ever being aware of the act he had slipped his hands underneath her shirt to unsnap her bra. The sudden release of tension caused her breasts to gently drop down and pucker, becoming sensitive to the foreign feel of a finger gliding back and forth over the tender ridges of her nipples. She gasped and arched into the palms that cupped her ample breasts. She leaned her head back to rest on the shoulder behind her as every muscle in her body went slack with languid heated desire. Her breath fanned his neck as it accelerated with the squeezes and tugs of his rough calloused fingers. Rather then repelling her, the calluses gave the feel of his hand a new dimension as the rough patches alternately teased and soothed her. The only sounds in the room were small rustles as bodies adjusted to find new and exciting ways to torment one another and ragged breathing as they gave in to their passions.

A tug on her hair and a warm hand at the base of her neck were enough to propel her towards the bed but once she stood she looked in awkward trepidation at the furs waiting for her. But hands from behind her encouraged her to lie down among their cold comfort. Even before it could register in her mind the same hands spread her raised knees and Itachi settled down between her open legs taking a moment to grind his pelvis into the inviting heat of her pubis. The warm weight of him was a comfort like nothing else and she was grateful for the way his body blocked all light keeping his face in dark shadows leaving nothing but the sensation of taste and touch in her warm cocoon of his arms, legs and the burning heat of his belly laying across the length of her torso. He roughly grabbed her hair and pulled her head to the side to once again devour her neck with his lips, teeth, and tongue while her hands reached up underneath his clothing to feel out the warm slightly sweaty contours of his muscled back. Her fingers gripped hard when a finger once more found the sensitive tip of her nipple, leaving sharp crescent moon impressions in the pale alabaster skin.

His mouth traveled down her neck and met the collar of her shirt. Moving with quick efficient movements, he removed both it and her bra. He then proceeded to attack her nipples with his fingers and tongue causing Sakura to arch her back and grip his hips with her long slender legs pulling him deeper into her body, sinking into the luscious curve of her flanks and belly. She returned the favor by pulling his shirt up, feeling him help her pull it over his head. Then he once more returned to her and this time he found the elastic edge of her pants and started to work them down under her butt and then past her thighs. She had not had any clean underwear to change into after their bath. So there was now no barrier to bar his prying eyes. All she could think to do was catch her own hands on to the top of his pants and pull them down but she was still too shy to pull down his boxers as well. But that was no matter because he shucked them as well. He chuckled lightly when she quickly averted her gaze away from the long thick rod that sprang out of his boxers.

Feeling the chill invading their warm nest he quickly covered her body once more and threw the blankets hurriedly over their bodies to prevent the chill from waking her from her seduced state. But she only stared up at him with half lidded eyes as she focused on the feel of his naked skin laying so intimately over hers. That fleshy tool was trapped between his loins and hers and the heat it threw off was more then enough to distract her as she slightly arched up to get a better feel for its size. His hips thrust back at her grinding lightly into her pelvis in acknowledgment of her curiosity and she snapped her eyes up to look into his shadowed face. Those dark eyes stared at her once more their intent gaze unnerving her like it always had. But she still was not intimidated if that was the word you wanted to use. She saw the passion burning like a bonfire in his eyes and it wasn't just the reflection of the fire that had been caught in his pupils. It was deep and passionate and she lost herself staring up into the mesmerizing glare. While she lay trapped in that dark ebony gaze he cupped her hip with his hand and rolled off to the side but keeping one knee over her thigh to keep her legs lying open for his inquisitive fingers. The gentle touches were over and she felt the warm heavy rasp of his fingers as they burrowed their way through sparse springy pink curls down into the dewy center that they hid.

The warm lips returned once more to her neck as his gaze finally broke away from her. She rolled her head back and panted when she felt the fingers go past the first layer and enter her warm passage, first one finger and then a second, to be grasped and milked by the tightly wound muscles within. A thumb gently flicked at the little bud that had been hidden from him under her hood and his wrist gently pressed her hips into stillness as she tried to raise her hips higher towards the source of her pleasure. He pushed his fingers higher up within her and he was rewarded with her first moaning gasp of pleasure as the intensity spiked to a whole new level. His other hand reached over and caught her wrist, guiding it down to the root of his desire. He gently encouraged her to hold and tug on him. He raised and rotated her hips to allow her hand to gain more access to him. When she seemed to falter, he surrounded her hand with his own and started pumping to encourage her efforts.

He felt a warm gush of liquid pour over his fingers and he gently smeared it around her sex causing her to arch once more. She reflexively gripped the head of his member causing him to curl up and groan in passion at the sudden intense pleasure. Having had enough he rolled on top of her and pushed up her legs so that they pinched him right below his armpits. Leaning up on his arms he reached down between her legs and placed the head of his sex at her warm entrance then allowed it to just rest there in that warm cradle but not pushing forward.

Feeling his hesitation Sakura attempted to push her hips up towards him but his hand came down on her low belly and held her still.

"Do you want it? Tell me how much you want it, tell how bad it feels without it." He breathed into her ear as he teased her even further by rocking the head gently causing her muscles to spasm and clench around emptiness.

"Ooooh…Itachi…please, please, please," she moaned incoherently as she continued to rock up against him.

"Please what? Please stop?" he nipped at her ear in reprimand.

"Please fuck me, Itachi. Fuck me hard," she squeaked out in agony. She was mortified at the words she had just used but was soon rewarded with a hard thrust as Itachi completely sheathed himself in her body with one decisive stroke. He adjusted her legs and then leaning up on his elbows nudged farther into her and rocked against her, slowly grinding her body into the cushions beneath her. She grabbed onto his shoulders, once more sinking her nails deep within his skin when he hit that sweet spot deep withinside of her causing her head to loll to the side and her eyes to roll back in pleasure. He felt her body wind tighter as he continued to thrust into her at a steady rate, holding back his own passion with every bit of will he possessed as he felt her grabbed and clawed his back with frustrated desire. She made a high pitch gasp as he plunged deep within her and he felt all the muscles deep withinside her clench around him in a warm forceful clasp. At this he lost the last restraints of his control and quickly lifting her leg up onto his shoulder. He turned her onto her side and kneeling down between her parted legs he pounded roughly into that wet haven grabbing her hips and pulling her body sharply into his thrusts. She cried out and grabbed the blankets and anything she could reach as she felt him lose control of his pace forcing her body over the edge.

She cried out and every muscle in her body clenched and spasm as a wave of hot blood rushed through her body. She felt his fingers bite sharply into her skin as he leaned over her and grunt as a warm splash of liquid erupted deep withinside her. She opened her eyes and stared blindly into the room as he gasped for air and leaned heavily against her allowing her leg to come down off his shoulder. Her wide eyes looked up and stared at him as if she had never seen him before in her life. Roughly throwing her body away from him she grabbed whatever blankets she could and attempted to cover her vulnerable

body, scooted away as fast as she possibly could while staring in an outraged shock at the man still kneeling naked in the middle of the futon.

Her shaking arm raised and an accusing finger came up pointing directly at the man still encompassed in shadows hiding his expression from her.

"Itachi, you BASTARD!"

Special AN: Questions you may not ask me

1: why did she scream "Itachi you bastard" at the end?

Obviously since I ended with that...it will be explained in the next chapter and not a minute before. Ways you may coerce me into telling you early are A: selling me your little brother for menial house chores B: sexual favors and C: Buying all my anime for a year

2: Did she really lose the baby?...yes she really really really really really did and no its not a secret I just didn't want to get into it in detail...maybe in a later chapter.

3: What is Itachi planning?-If I knew that then the next chapter would come much faster that's for sure...I don't really plan these things out I just get inspired and spend five hours typing it out...sometimes even the things I had planned to do when I sat down get changed the minute I start typing it. I'm not a method typer I'm a non linear typer- take from that what you wish its still true all the same...so asking me about future plot points is a useless effort cause I really don't have any idea. Also I'm a two finger typer who types really fast and does not subscribe to that whole "home row keys" theory…that's why I have so many typos…not a lack of knowledge just laziness.


	7. Just call me angel of the morning

This has been SOOOOO long since I updated I just feel terrible! Well anyways you guys have been suspiciously easy going about this that it makes me wonder. All except for the comments that just go like this.

"update?"

or my favorite:

"yo….update please…you bitch"  
ok well I lied I added the bitch part myself but anyways you guys get the deal….i felt it even if you were to polite to say it. Im just good that way.  
So if you feel like this chapter isn't "up" to my regular quality or like it isn't going anywhere or whatever little complaint…well is till wanna hear it but id also like to add that YOUR LUCKY TO HAVE ANYTHING AT ALL HOEBAGS!

Sooooo Yea…creative process…..just aint going with this one. It's to bad I only write when I feel like it and I never feel like it.

So baisiclly what I just said was thank you for being patient and here is the next chapter.  
And to my loyal fans I have absoloutly no idea what the last review you left behind was but I always notice you guys.  
Chelsey: you rock out loud  
Jenjenner: You keep me on target….just point it out  
Blisbop: Do you read EVERYTHING? Cause I know you read all my crap…that's admirable it truly is.  
And pretear fan: YAY I know you just changed your name (why pretear has to be one of the best anime EVER!) but I always look forward to your reviews

Anyways for all the rest of you YAY! And keep reviewing! It has REALLY REALLY REALLY helped me like you wouldn't even believe. I mean I know I took a long time to update but with out you guys I wouldn't have updated AT ALL.

All legal disclaimers apply i dont own.

Oh yea watch out for the potty mouth in this chapter.

Chapter 7  
"Just call me angel of the morning"

"Itachi you bastard!"

He just continued to follow her every movement with his uncompromising gaze, languidly reaching down to wrap the sheet around his loins, tucking the end in the small of his back he reached over and grabbed her ankle and slowly started to pull her towards him. Sakura franticly reached around grasping at the floorboards but could find no purchase to avoid the inevitable conclusion, and despite her attempts wound up right back where she started. She lay on her back staring up into the man looming over her and she became aware of the intense heat radiating from his hand on her ankle, as she splayed naked and exposed before him.

"Not a very nice thing to say to your husband love…after all what does that say about the kind of girl who would marry a bastard like me eh?" He lifted his dark brows and the corner of his mouth lifted in a sardonic twist as he watched her struggle to free herself from him, and cover herself at the same time.

"I'm NOT your wife you sick ass hole! Like I would ever marry a psycho like you," at this Sakura froze and peered up at him from beneath lowered lashes fearing she had said to much, She quivered as she waited for the inevitable reprimand that would follow. She shivered even harder when instead of feeling his fist, his fingers lost their grip on her ankle and slowly started to stroke the smooth expanse of her calf circling around to tickle the back of her knee.

"Rule one," his dark brooding voice came out of the shadows as the fingers lingered near the top of her thigh, "don't make assumptions." He wedged his hand in between her knees and moved his body over the top of her till they were once again face-to-face, with his stomach resting on her heaving belly. She gulped and moved her head to the side avoiding the penetrating gaze she could feel just inches from her cheek.

"D-Don't play with me," She sobbed out as she felt warm breath ghosting over her shoulder, but his only answer was warm lips pressed against her collarbone. She lay still and stiff as the silence stretched on waiting for any indication of violence from Itachi, but he just continued kissing her neck and shoulders allowing his full body weight to rest on top of her. His hand came up to rest on her hip, the thumb slowly rubbing back and forth on the sharp angle of her hip bone, as he used his other too pull the covers around them.

Her breathing slowly came back to normal when he laid his head down and gave every indication of going to sleep right there, and that's when she started to get angry.

_Wait is he just going to go to sleep! That ass hole! _

Before she could think to stop herself her hand came up and smacked him on the side of his head, she briefly thought that maybe she ought to be scared, but he just grunted and rolled to the side to stare at her. She took her first deep breath for the last ten minutes and glared right back at him.

"That's it? You're just going to fall asleep?" She rolled on top of him and straddled his hips her eyes blazing hatred, using her momentum she pinned his hands above him and grinned her triumph into his face.

"Oh I get it, you like to be on top," his gaze met her challenge as he jerked up rubbing his hips into her pelvis, where she felt him harden against her backside. She screamed in rage as he easily avoided her hands and once more rolled them over till his weight came down hard on her once more. He sat up and grabbed her hands as she tried to punch him in any body part she could reach, he easily avoided her and with only one hand pinned her arms to the mat.

"Now what would they say about me if I let my wife beat me up huh? I would never live it down." He was playing with her and it was reinforced when he reached out and nipped at her lips in a sensual reprimand.

"I'm NOT your wife!" she lifted her hips and arched her back but he only pressed her harder into the bed, she felt him take her bottom lip in his mouth and suck hard showing his teeth. When she went still he gave one last mind-numbing suck and pecked the tip of her nose.

"I told you not to assume," She huffed and turned her head sharply staring hard into the fire and trying to ignore the sharp pain that shot up her spine at the awkward movement, "You know you pout when you don't get your way…its really cute." The playful teeth came back this time determined to torment the sensitive skin of her ear and neck.

She felt the hard knot lodge itself in her throat and she couldn't stop the tears that burned the back of her eyes. Angry with herself she whipped back around and snapped at him with her small white teeth, but he easily avoided her and grunting pushed her hard into the covers.

"Tell me…why? Why are you doing this?" she whispered her chin wobbling but fortunately she kept it under control, and NO that wasn't tears in her voice, absolutely NOT.

He sighed and seemed to lose his playfulness, once more reaching for the edge of the blanket and pulling it over them, he slipped off of her keeping his leg thrown across her lap as he played with the ends of her hair.

"Ita-" she started but was cut off.

"Quiet, I'm getting to it." His hand came down and rubbed her belly as he settled in beside her, smirking to himself as he felt her stiffen as she came to the end of her short temper.

"I am your husband or just as good, as far as you are concerned. I can't tell you anything else right now; just enough to tell you that it's what is keeping you alive right now. Tell me Sakura, before waking up in the cabin, what is the last thing you remember?" His eyes bored into her as she gapped back at him open mouthed.

She blinked at him and her brows came together over her forehead as she did her best to remember, a thumb came up and rubbed the wrinkles away, and she turned to look at him. "I remember the fight- I'm mean the fight Sasuke and I had right before-" She broke off as she recalled just what the fight was about and her hand immediately went to caress the flat planes of her tummy.

"No," and his hand came up to cover hers and he pushed it gently away, stroking the fingers in silent apology. Sakura blinked rapidly as she fought the rising tide of emotion that threatened to overwhelm her.

"What else?" Those strong fingers intertwined with hers, easily pulling her away from her dark thoughts. She was more than grateful for the interruption and veered away from the vast tangle of emotions just waiting to strike her at the first sign of weakness.

"That's it I think, maybe but after that it is just incoherent." She stared up at the ceiling watching the soft glow cast by the dying fire.

"Ah, well then go to sleep." She stared at him in shock before she just rolled over to face away from him. Her hand came up and gently rubbed at her belly as she felt the heat of his chest come up and wrap around her from behind, he wedged his arm under her head and let his wrist lay in the gentle slope of her waist. She let the tears roll down her face and allowed herself to fall asleep with still so many questions to be answered.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Mornings can be a beautiful time, when the sun crests over snow-covered hills filling the void of darkness with fog and silence, trees standing amidst it all like ghostly sentinels ensuring the quiet remains, a haven for predators and prey alike.

But Sakura didn't give a damn about all that, all she knew was that it was too damn early to be awake and yet he was. He was awake…. and staring at her…. that's it. He didn't move. He didn't say anything. He just lay there and stared. At her. FOR THE LAST HOUR. She was to say the least, getting a little bit sick of it; she lay there with her eyes shut tight knowing that he KNEW, that she KNEW that both of them were awake. What made matters worse was that half of his body was covering her own and that she was trapped underneath him, and she had to urinate for the last 15 minutes but she was NOT going to get up and go pee in front of him, with him WATCHING her. Telling him he was hot and that he was suffocating her was not an option either.

So she lay there and pretended he wasn't watching her like a hawk, and that his arm wasn't across her stomach pressing on her bladder. Was he deliberately giving off extra body heat? Could you do that? Sakura thought about it as another wave of panic rippled through her lower belly, and instead concentrated on her chakra using the waves to push the heat away from her body and back towards him. She felt him shift in the covers next to her and before she knew it a warm leg was thrown across her body with a cold foot tucked in behind her knee.

"Eeek! Good god how is that possible! Your feet are like ice!" She jerked her leg away and cracked her sand caked eyes open to glare at him. He lay there with a contented 'I-just-woke-up' look on his face…. as if he hadn't just done that on purpose the sick bastard. This proves it…he really was a sociopathic psycho…she now had proof.

"You did that on purpose!" She hissed venomously as she tried to move out from underneath his leg but only managed to get tangled up in the sheets. She only struggled harder kicking out at the offending linen, hearing Itachi sigh she stopped to find herself laying on top of him. It was at this point that Sakura remembered that not only was she naked but so was he, he lay on his back with his arms folded behind his head with his lips quirked up at the side.

"Your sick," She struggled but only managed to make the sheets tighter and him more excited. "Where did you buy these sheets? At sadistic warehouse. COM?"

Panting she gave up and let her forehead rest against his chest allowing herself to relax against him.

"Would you like some help?" He offered allowing his hand to come down and rest on her head. Sakura just grunted and turned her head to pout at the wall. Itachi rolled them over and out of the sheets dumping her on the chilly floorboards.

"Jerk!" but Sakura didn't have time to elaborate, covering her eyes to avoid the view Itachi was more then willing to give her she jumped up and raced off to the screened off corner with the little ceramic pot. Sakura winced when the lid made a loud grinding noise when she pulled it off; she only hoped that he wasn't standing around listening to her. She heard him finally move around in the other room and she breathed a sigh of relief when she heard him leave to go into the caves.

Seeing that there was no water left over from last night Sakura slipped into the sweats she had found and grabbing a bucket she quickly opened the door and bouncing from foot to foot she scooped snow into the bucket and raced back inside willing the numbness away from her toes. Placing the snow to the side she knelt by the fireplace and got the fire going once more, turning she filled her pot with snow and left it on the edge of the fire to melt.

She turned and grabbed a blanket from the rumpled pile behind her and wrapped herself up content to watch the flames consume the kindling and move onto the greater prize of the oak log. She heard the door snap open behind her and felt the rush of air pressure as the caves greedily consumed the warm air of the room beyond, Itachi came in with another armload of firewood that he threw into the bin.

He sat down next to her and grabbing the edge of her blanket yanked it out of her hands and wrapped it around him-self as well. Sakura didn't particularly feel like protesting instead deciding to ignore him and the nibbles she could feel on the back of her neck. Who knew Itachi was a biter?

"So…. I mean…. whats' the plan?" she fumbled with the end of the blanket using her toes to push the stick in front of her further into the fire.

"Don't know, sleep, train, fuck, whatever you want we have a lot of time to kill." He shifted around behind her tucking the blanket in around their legs. Sakura tucked her chin into the blanket and thought about his offer. Sleep yea I guess if there is nothing else to do.

_Fuck? FUCK? Shyea right! As if I would sleep with him!_

_Shut up you know you liked it, besides it was ten times better then the one time with Sasu-_

_DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT SENTENCE!_

"Stupid inner voices," Sakura, muttered into her blanket, causing Itachi to raise his eyebrows in question. Damn it…. does he know what I was thinking about? No way…. bastard.

"Sleep sounds ok I guess, but I imagine it would get kinda old after a while." She admitted watching the pot by the fire finally come to a boil.

"The training really helps to make that more fun." Itachi reached for the bag of coffee that Sakura had thrown down and taking a scoop full he threw it into the pot. Sakura wrinkled her nose at his method but decided to ignore it…. she hated chewing her coffee but Kakashi always did it too…maybe it was an ANBU thing? Or maybe they were just lazy.

"Training for what exactly?" she asked eyeing the floating bits as they were thrown to the surface by the slightly darkened roiling water.

"Lots of things," came the vague reply behind her as teeth imprinted themselves on her shoulder.

"Are you hungry? Are you trying to tell me its time to start breakfast?" Sakura snarled at the man behind her. Man that was bold; who would have thought that she would ever talk to HIM like this.

"I would much rather go back to bed," she felt warm hands creep up the front of her shirt and latch onto her breasts. Sakura bit her lip and squirmed back against him as the fingers tweaked her sensitive nipples, panicked she pinched the inside of her thigh and when he let go she rocketed out of the blanket away from his grabby hands.

She stood out of his reach and glared murderously at him with her hands on her hips and her chest heaving. Itachi just rubbed the inside of his thigh where her nails had dug in and watched her hardened nipples rub against the front of her shirt.

"Pity…. I had been looking forward to that all morning. You gunna make breakfast or what?"

Sputtering Sakura shouted the only thing that came to mind whenever she looked at him. "Bastard!"

With that she grabbed a towel from the cabinet and two protein bars from the pantry and slamming the door to the catacombs behind her left him to cook his own damn breakfast.

Sakura: one  
Itachi: well many more but that doesn't count cause I still got one more then anyone else.

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OOC much? well yea  
Just because I needed to update and cause you wanted me too. Sorry that it might not be as good as the rest but I just needed to write myself out of this funk. Don't worry I'll pull something out of the hat, this just makes it a little easier.

Anyways same old drill…..if you see this reposted in a few days its just cause I caught a whole bunch of mistakes and helped them to become…uh not mistakes I guess. If I make any real big changes I will be sure to let you know at the beginning of the chapter. Or re-read the whole thing that's cool too.


	8. Swim to the surface its a new chapter!

But i just cant keep myself from updating any longer cause all of you guys have been poking me so much... with all the poking and crap.  
So here you go this chapter has finally been beta'd yay! so lets all thank NAcht and all her hard work!

I abuse her so much no wonder she avoids me. (just kiddin)

An Affair to Forget Chapter 8: Swim to the surface

Sakura sighed as she dug the burnt end of the stick into the wall, giving it an extra hard twist in retaliation. She checked the corridor ahead and then looked up at her handmade torch, making sure that it was still burning. She refused to look behind her knowing HE was there, following her, and tracking every movement with his black eyes.

She made sure her mark was fully visible before she went down the corridor to the right. She had been following every right hand turn, going deeper and deeper into the mountain. Sakura didn't honestly know what she was looking for but having him follow her every step of the way was grating to her nerves.

She had no idea why he was following her, but considered the thought that he was bored out of his mind, just like her. She still hadn't forgiven him from the incident three days ago. She had managed to keep their conversations as short as possible, using every opportunity to escape from his company. After spending the morning stretching and trying to heal her hip, she had decided to explore the vast caves that lay buried in the mountain. She hadn't considered that he might follow her, ignoring him had seemed the best option, and she still considered it the best.

She felt his chakra signature fade away, which didn't mean he was gone. Sakura felt her teeth grid and she forcibly relaxed her jaw. She walked ahead trying to hold the torch well out to the side, she had already been burnt twice this morning by the stupid thing. Felt the two others swinging from her hip where she had tied them into her confiscated belt, bumping and rubbing her knee raw as she walked. She suddenly stopped as she felt raw pebbles crunching beneath her feet and brought her torch forward to see a massive cave-in blocking the way in front of her.  
Sakura sighed and blew her bangs out of her eyes as she turned to back track, again. She was getting sick of this game. She thought of quitting and going back to the cabin to let Itachi stare at her for a while. That really should pump up her ego and yet, somehow, it didn't. Just as she turned to go she felt her nose grind into a warm mesh covered wall of bricks….AKA Itachi. He had been two freaking steps behind her the whole time and she hadn't even known it. Sakura felt her nerves snap as she jumped back and nearly out of her skin.

"Leave me alone! Why do you keep following me?! Why cant I get rid of you?!" she shrieked as she clutched at her chest, dropping her torch. It rolled into the corner next to the landslide where it hissed and guttered, but thankfully, stayed lit.

"I can't leave you alone until you wake up," His voice cracked but nothing about his demeanor changed. "Sakura, just wake up."

With that, Itachi turned and walked away into the darkness leaving Sakura alone. She hugged her sides and tried to keep from crying. She wouldn't cry. She refused to. It wouldn't do ANY good to cry now. She felt her teeth chatter and she crouched down on her knees, hugging them to her chest.

"Why won't he leave me alone? What kind of sick game is he playing at? Does it have to do with Sasuke? He knows about the baby but it's gone now. So why is he keeping me here…I don't understand ANYTHING!'

Sakura found no answers to these questions and she could only ponder, at what seemed to her, the very strange behavior on Itachi's part. As far as she knew, Itachi wasn't the kind of man who formed strange romantic attractions with any woman, so why was she here? And why would he lie to her about being his wife? That's what seemed the strangest to Sakura, but she came up with nothing to explain any of it.

She jumped out of her thoughts when her only light began to flicker and crawled over to the torch where it still lay on its side. She picked it up and flicked little bits of dirt off it, trying to decide whether she should switch it over for one of the others. A soft sound made her look down where several small stones had bounced down the shaft and landed against her feet. She stared for a moment then shivered when she heard vast groaning sounds from the rocks above her. She looked up in time to see them shaking loose from their haphazard configuration and fall in a giant crushing wave towards her. Using every bit of strength and skill she had, she leapt out of the way but it wasn't enough, her lower body had been pinned.

Sakura lay with her arms covering her head as small rocks and pebbles pelted her, coughing as dust tried to steal her last breath. Soon enough, she felt the last of the quakes stop around her and she cracked her eyes open, everything around her was in darkness. She cautiously brought her hand to her face attempting wipe the worst of the dust from her eyes and she tried one more time to open them. This time she was rewarded by a small weak light, the torch had been knocked across the room by her struggle and lay underneath a mound of debris.

The light wouldn't last long, most of the wick was choked with dirt. Sakura ignored the searing pain in her legs and carefully brushing away dirt and rocks she came up on her elbows. She felt the massive weight on top of her groan and shift. She froze in terror as she was again pelted by small rocks. Never before had she been so aware that she was underneath a mountain, those big things with all the snow and trees and rocks. Sakura felt the ominous presence of the mountain now as it oppressively pressed in on her, wanting to crush her insignificant life away beneath its earthen bones.

Sakura took stock of the damage, trying to control her breathing in order to bring her shivers under control. She was going into shock and she knew it. She had no way to feel what was going on in her legs so she couldn't assess how much she was bleeding, if any. The weight of the rocks might prevent bleeding but it could cause far worse problems. The longer she was stuck the worse they would be. There was a more urgent problem, her fingers were broken, two were dislocated. After she pulled them into place and set them her troubles weren't over, several of them refused to move despite all her tricks. If your fingers are broken it doesn't matter how good of a medic you were if you just couldn't make the signs. She sobbed as she tried once more to manually force her fingers into the sign but they had started to swell and movement was impossible. She lay her head down, exhausted, as the light began to flicker. The hissing and popping became worse. She couldn't reach the extra torch at her side, not that she could manage to light it, she had some idea that she would throw it close enough that it might catch. She stared at the wall as crazy shadows were thrown in relief and disappeared just as quickly. She tried flexing her toes and legs to see what happened but quickly stopped when she received nothing but pain. She tried to reach behind her and shift the rocks that were pressing into her lower back but they couldn't be budged. As she stared at the wall she heard the crunch of rocks and she squeezed her eyes tight in terror as she waited for the shift that would completely entomb her.

She realized that the sounds were coming from the wrong direction and she gasped as she looked up into Itachi's face just as the final light went out. Everything was complete darkness, she couldn't even hear him breathing. She reached for where she last saw him and she tried to keep from sobbing as she lay her hand on his foot. He didn't move at all and she could feel his eyes staring at her, what he saw in the complete darkness she had no idea.

"Itachi….please" she choked out as she coughed up dust and what tasted like blood.

"Sakura…..wake up. Wake up and it will all be over." his voice bounced around the room.

"But I am awake," she quietly wailed as she gripped his ankle tighter. "I can't BE any more awake. Please Itachi, help me." she gasped and held onto that one lifeline, not willing to let go for any reason, no matter what. She felt him crouch down and his warm fingers rested on her cheek before wiping away the grit and dirt.

"I can't help you until you wake up Sakura." he stood and kicked her hand off his ankle.

"Itachi! ITACHI! Wait please please don't go ITACHI!" she started screaming his name, caring very little that her thrashing had endangered her precarious position. She didn't even hear the rocks this time as they crashed around her completely covering her whole body.

She lay beneath the crushing weight completely trapped, unable to move a single muscle. She sobbed quietly as she tried to listen for any sounds that meant he was trying to dig her out, that he had just been playing a sick game to tease her. But nothing……silence.

'He told me to wake up but I AM awake. Maybe I should sleep, maybe I should just go to sleep and then I will wake up.' Sakura shut her eyes tight and willed herself to sleep.

'Don't want to be here. I just want to sleep….I just want to sleep, far away from here….just sleep.'

And with that Sakura drifted away.

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"Hold her down! She's going into arrest!"

Sasuke stood to the side, helpless, as the woman on the bed thrashed wildly while doctors and nurses attempted to hold her down. It seemed odd to him that there could be so much movement after such a long time. How does someone go into arrest while seeming to have a seizure?

Monitors beeped like crazy as they attempted to figure out why she would suddenly go into a fit like this. Sasuke could only watch quietly as she was poked with needles and strapped tightly to the table. He thought to protest at the way they were handling her but was held back by a hand on his shoulder. He felt Kakashi squeeze his shoulder as he too, looked on in helplessness. Unable to do anything for their fallen teammate than to watch and to hope that this might signal an end to the waiting. And end to…something.

Finally, someone turned around to see the two of them standing there and against their wishes they were shuffled from the room. Banished to wait with the rest of them, the ones who had come when they heard there was a change.

Sasuke slumped against the wall staring at the nurses' station without seeing anything, baffling the nurses with his apparent blank expression, showing nothing of his inner feelings. He didn't turn when he felt Naruto and Sai run up to greet him, both of them blowing hard and sweaty from their efforts to get there.

'What happened?!? I heard something happened!" Naruto screeched, staring between Kakashi and Sasuke, ready to burst into the room, and demand answers from the medical staff until he was appeased.

"We don't know Naruto. We just have to wait till someone decides to clue us in." Kakashi sat nonchalantly in a chair, his book covering his face, as he rested his chin on one hand. Sasuke had noticed that none of the pages had been turned for quite some time, Kakashi might not want them to know it but he was just as concerned as the rest of them.

"Sasuke, you were with her. What happened?" Kakashi asked finally.

Sasuke had been dreading this question, he had been watching her, all of them had taken shifts even when they had said that she had been gone too long. That she would probably not wake up. They had decided in the beginning that one of them would always be with her, no matter what. It didn't matter how long it took or how much of their lives might be wasted in that room, waiting for her to come back to them. Someone was always there so that she wouldn't feel alone. So that she wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night and feel alone and go back to sleep, this time forever.

He had sat there in disbelief when her eyes shot open and she had started Saying THAT name…not saying Begging That Man to help her. Sasuke clenched his fist in pain as it ran through his head again. Why would she say that man's name now?

"Tch" was his only reply and he looked away, ignoring their crestfallen looks at his avoidance of their question. Its not like he didn't feel bad about it, he just didn't want to tell them.

They all stood around getting in the way of nursing and hospital staff unwilling to budge a single inch. Their heads jerked up as the on call doctor excited the room, pulling off his gloves, and starting in their direction. There was not one person in the hospital who could have failed to notice their devotion to her. It was to them that the news had to come first.

"She suffered a massive seizure. We still don't know the cause of it, but the good news is that it seems to have woken her from the coma. We were able to get some response out of her and I am glad to say that she was able to recognize herself and even a few of us." he beamed at them as they all breathed a sigh of blessed relief, they stood to move into the room but stopped as he held up his hand.

"She is sleeping now, but I can assure you it is just a normal sleep. She will wake up in due time but until then…"

They ignored the doctor as they all entered the room, pulling up their usual chairs. Naruto by the bedside with Kakashi sitting across from him in the pull down chair…a most uncomfortable place to sleep. Sai sat in the window with his sketchbook across his lap staring into the street below. Sasuke leaned against the wall watching as monitors clicked and beeped, transcribing every moment of her continued life.

Her hair lay across the pillow, a vibrant splash of tawdry color in a room soaked in emotion. Her hair was the only colorful thing about her now, her eyes had been closed for so long. He had forgotten how green they were. Her cheeks were sunken and grey with dark circles around her eyes. It was funny that someone who had gotten so much sleep could look like she just spent the last five months without it. But there were changes, the breathing machine that had steadily, day and night, caused her lungs to compress and depress was gone as she was finally able to regulate it on her own. The ugly intubator that had been shoved down her throat was replaced with a simple mask. They all breathed a sigh of relief as they waited for her to wake up, ready to greet her with all their love.

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It was like swimming up from the bottom of a lake, coming awake after so long. You could look up and see the distant murky top the sunlight filtering down to the bottom but your body felt weighted down like a stone as you slowly struggled to the top. Guided by hollow noises and senseless muttering that was familiar enough that you were compelled to follow it to its source.

She drifted as she looked up through the top and tried to figure out how she could break the surface. Swimming in circles as she touched its glass like bottom but had no strength to break that final barrier.

"You just need to wake up."

She nodded at the voice in her head, remembering now how to do it.

And then she opened her eyes.

"Hi, Sakura-chan…welcome back"

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Yaya updated ness!! i have already started on the next chapter cause i'm just cool like that. hopefully i wont take so long next time. anyways WELCOME BACK hiatus is Over!

A/N: feel free to review people...no seriously review. Cause i have to say for as long as i have had this update up the number of reviews has been lame. its very...upsetting I feel like you don't love me or this story any longer, well thats partly my fault cause i took so long to update but BREALLY./B 


	9. Go Away Sai!

A/n:Another chapter!

o(8)0

An Affair To Forget  
Chapter nine: Go Away Sai!

Her eyes cracked open and she looked into a blindingly white room. She watched in stupefaction as the monitor beeped at her. She absently took in the information provided to her but could not make sense out of it, although, she knew she should know what it meant.

She turned her head but shut her eyes as pain shot straight through, causing her to cringe in agony.

"Sai, shut the window," She knew that name…she knew that voice. She ignored the grating sound of the curtains being pulled shut concentrating on that voice next to her.

"Sensei?" her voice was a lot weaker then she thought it would be. She had to lick her lips and try again, to get passed the awful paste that had filled her mouth. "Sensei?"

"I'm right here. Sakura, open your eyes," came the light admonishment as her hand was grasped in warm calloused fingers. His hand was dry and it felt like paper to her fingers. She flexed her hands in response, surprisingly shocked to find no pain but thankful when her fingers were gently squeezed in return.

She cracked her eyes open again, relieved when the pain this time was only minor. Her eyes slowly came into focus and stared into a ring of faces surrounding her. Naruto was fidgeting and alternating between grinning and crying. She tried to smile at him but was just too tired to do anything more than lift a corner of her mouth in a crooked rendition of a smile. But it was enough for them as they all breathed a sigh of relief before standing back and pretending they hadn't been worried about her.

She watched as they went back to their respective spots but grew concerned when no one seemed to want to talk, instead they watched her. She cleared her throat and looked around the room, her eyes lingered on Sasuke but he turned away, not meeting her eyes. _Did he know? She didn't think he would even be here if he didn't.  
_  
"Don't worry he has no idea."

She jumped at the voice that sounded in the back of her mind, but she was used to it…maybe the blow to the head had caused inner Sakura's voice to change. She beetled her brows as she thought about the logistics of such a thing but weirder things had happened so she discounted it. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't heard a thing from her inner personality the whole time she had been in the mountains.

She looked over as Kakashi pulled his fingers from her hand adjusting his forehead protector into place.

"Ho-ow lo-" but her throat was too dry to finish the sentence and she struggled to bring out the right words.

"Nearly five weeks now" Kakashi had seemed to know what she was asking, she sighed in relief.

She looked over as Sasuke pulled away from the wall, walking into the adjoining bathroom. She heard the sink running and he walked out with a plastic cup in his hands. He leaned over her and she felt Naruto's arm behind her back as they lifted her up so she could bring the water to her mouth. She tried to reach for the cup but her arm felt like a 20 pound weight that flopped uselessly to her side after several attempts. She sipped carefully as Sasuke held the cup to her lips, feeling the warmth of his fingers that grasped the hair at the back of her head. When she could drink no more she turned her head away and she was carefully lowered back onto the pillows.

"Thank you" her voice came out as a breathy whisper but at least she could say the words this time. She lay back and felt her eyes droop closed while the boys talked to one another. She could no longer keep track of their conversation, but didn't feel she needed to. It just felt good to be back with them. Away from him and his games.

"Is she awake?!?"

The door to the room flew open and she startled awake, only to see Ino pulling Shika into the room. She looked over at Sakura, staring at her before she burst into tears. Noticing the glares that her teammates were throwing his way, Shikamaru grabbed Ino by the arm, forcing her from the room till she could calm down. Sakura watched as her room slowly filled with people who had just come to verify the good news. She grasped her mother's fingers and sighed as her boys were slowly pushed farther from her. All except Naruto, who fought for his position at her side.

Exhausted and frustrated from trying to remember all the names and faces she closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. The boys took this as their cue to shoo everyone else from the room. Kakashi stood to go with them rubbing her hair affectionately.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Try to get some rest."

With a pop he was gone. Sai said his goodbyes not much longer after that, having escaped without having to say one word to her. She drifted while Naruto and Sasuke argued quietly in the background, glad that things were finally back to normal.  
_  
But what had happened? Where was Itachi? And how did she get back to Konoha? Did Itachi bring her back in some show of pity?_ These were her last thoughts as she fell into sleep.

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The next day, with the help of a nurse, she carefully negotiated her way around a cup of pudding. Taking her time while trying to ignore Sai, as he relentlessly watched her without moving a muscle.

"You don't have to draw a picture of the nurse feeding me, you know. I have a pretty good picture of it in my head. Thank you." her voice was still weak but she was able to talk with much more clarity.

"Who says I'm drawing a picture of you?" he continued to look up and stare at her before leaning back over his pad.

She had just about had enough of Sai. She loved him to death but there wasn't anyone who pissed her off more than he could. Naruto and Sasuke had each other to compete and fight with. Sakura had Sai. The man deliberately went out of his way to jerk her around. Today was no exception as he either pretended to draw her, or didn't draw her, and lied saying he wasn't. All the while inferring that she was selfish to think it was about her. She just couldn't win, she bit down on the plastic spoon giving him a lukewarm glare, and made sure to remind Kakashi about this failing in Sai before he decided to set him to watching her again.

It was nice of them to worry but the constant surveillance was getting on her nerves. She hadn't had one moment alone, even when they changed her catheter._ When she got her strength back some beating obviously needed to be administered. Here she was gone for a short time and look at how uppity they got. They needed to be reminded that she was alpha female and she didn't put up with this crap._

She huffed when the nurse indicated that she might like the spoon back and she opened her mouth dejectedly while glaring at Sai. She turned back when the spoon was brought back and the nurse murmured quietly for her to open her mouth. Sakura was glad that her rehab would be starting soon, being fed by someone else was humiliating. Sai stood up and stretched, she tried to look at the pad where it had slumped to the floor, she couldn't see anything.

"Knock knock!"

Kakashi stuck his head around the corner, his cheesy smile firmly in place. He came to the bed and set a melon down on the side table, waving happily all the time. Sakura hadn't seen Kakashi since she had woken up the day before and she could only hope that it meant he was here to switch places with Sai.

Luck was with her, Sai reached over, picked up his sketch book, then dared to come over to her and peck her on the forehead. He just did it to piss her off, she was sick and tired of it.

"Any excuse to piss me off, isn't that right?" Her ire was tiring her out and she was glad he was going. Normally she didn't mind their fighting, but today it was just too exhausting.

"Is that what you think?" he smiled at her turning his head to the side, she unkindly thought of him as a stupid dog. One who refused to understand what you were telling it to do. 'You want me to do what? Sit? I don't know that word…eat, poop, No, no sit'

She sighed and lay back as he walked out the door. The nurse cleaned up her lunch, most of it from off her chest. Yes, she had given Sai quite the show. She would make sure the hospital staff knew that he was no longer welcome until she had complete function of her body.

Sakura had questions that had yet to be answered and here was the man who could tell them to her. She watched as the nurse slowly puttered around the room adjusting flowers and gathering all the trash. She wasn't someone Sakura was terribly familiar with and she didn't feel comfortable enough to tell her to get lost. They both watched as she finally grabbed her cart and trotted out of the room, breathing a sigh of relief.

Kakashi got up and closed the door behind her, turning off the over head lights, leaving just the lamps over the bed. It wasn't gloomy by any means, but it was much easier on her tired eyes. Thankfully, no one had thought to open the window, which she was sure, if Sai had known how much it would bother her he would have done it.

"Sensei…" She started but he held up his hand as he reached into his flak jacket for his infamous dirty novel.

She smiled as she watched him engross himself in the book finding his well marked page. She understood now, for Kakashi, that novel was a way to distance himself from potentially emotional situations. God forbid, he should realize he had been afraid for her and do something nasty, like get teary eyes or emotional. It was a hard rule but we all find ways to cope with it, even Sakura had begun to learn.

"Sensei, I need to know, how did you guys find me? Did he…..Did HE bring me back?" She gulped as she mentioned the name, not wanting to say it out loud, hoping maybe that he would know who she was talking about. Or maybe hoping that he didn't.

Kakashi marked his place in the book and set it on a side table he leaned over his knees and stared into her eyes. "Sakura tell me, what do you remember? When do you remember losing consciousness?"

Sakura had no idea where to start._ The first time she lost consciousness in the avalanche or the time she lost consciousness in the cave?_ She decided to go with the easy one.

"All I remember is the noise, Sasuke and I were fighting-"

"Physically?" he interrupted her.

"No, we were arguing about….something, then I heard the noise and, well I don't really remember much after that until I woke up." She finished.

"What do you mean what noise?" He clenched his fists together, leaning his chin on top as he gave her his full attention.

"You know, the avalanche," Sakura beetled her brows as she tried to convey this to him.

Kakashi scratched at his head as he looked down at the floor, breaking his gaze from hers. Finally he looked back up at her and reached for her hand stroking her fingers reassuringly. "Sakura there was no avalanche, at least not that I know about. You were knocked out when we engaged enemy forces while training in the mountains. We brought you here immediately and you have been in a coma for the last five weeks."

"You mean….I don't understand." She felt the backs of her eyes burn as she tried to comprehend what he was telling her. _There had never been Itachi, there had never been the cabin in the mountains or the cave in…. But it had been so real! Sakura could remember the feel of snow on her face and the heat of the hot spring…and she remembered Itachi the most. How could none of that have even happened?_

"I have heard that some coma patients can have very…intricate dreams in order to cope with the strain." It was the only explanation he could offer her as he watched her eyes tear up.

"But it was so real," she whispered her lower lip pouting. Kakashi reached up and rubbed her head, patting her in sympathy.

"Maybe you ought to get some sleep. You look pretty tired, it can't be easy moving around this much after such a long time."

Sakura nodded as her exhaustion caught up with her and she lay back on the pillows as Kakashi clicked off all of the lights except one over his shoulder. She listened to the quiet turning of pages as he occasionally hummed. She didn't think he realized that he read to himself sometimes. It's why she had never needed to read that book. If you were just quiet and listened, he would tell you himself. She smiled as she once more engrossed herself in the misadventures of Junko and all his wicked kunoichi until she fell asleep.

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"I've been waiting for you to come back to me."

"You can't, you're not real."

"Doesn't this feel real to you?" She felt his hand cup her breast and his warm breath on the back of her neck. It felt real but it wasn't, she knew that. Strong fingers pulled at her nipple as he reached up and pulled her hair away from her face.

"Stop….stop toying with me, YOUR NOT REAL!"

"I'm more real then you think. Someday you'll understand that."

"No!"

But the hand didn't stop and he rolled her hip forward bringing her leg up as he slipped his body into hers. His hands gripped her hips hard and she thrust back into him as he grunted his appreciation.

She bit down on her knuckles as he drove his hips up into her, twining his fingers with hers and pulling her shoulder down with each thrust up. She arched her back and groaned as lights burst behind her eyes, every muscle in her body clenching in waves as she felt the warmth of his release in her belly, his breath heavy in her hair.

"You're not real." she whispered as lips ghosted along her nape.

"Come back to me and I'll prove to you again how real I am."

She couldn't see his face but she could hear his smirk. The darkness in the room engulfed her and she lost all track of herself as night consumed her.

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Her eyes opened. She gasped as focus and reality came back to her. She looked over to the side and saw Naruto slumped in the chair snoring loudly with drool slowly rolling down his face and into the cuff of his jacket.

She glared up into the ceiling as she felt the uncomfortable wetness between her legs, she had no way to wipe it up especially since her catheter was still in and wasn't THAT a blast. _'Note to self: For future reference NEVER have an orgasm with a catheter in.'  
_  
Naruto continued to snore loudly next to her and she turned to stare at his rough unshaven cheek that was still gently rounded. She could see the sharp outline that would start to take control of his face soon. _Sasuke never seemed to need to shave but Sakura had never minded before…Itachi didn't need to shave either._ She blocked that thought quickly _'I don't know what Itachi's cheek feels like, it was just a dream.'_

A shadow detached itself away from the wall and Sakura jumped as Sasuke came to stand over her. He stood next to the bed and kicked Naruto in the leg when he began to snore to loudly.

"Stop teme!" Naruto whined in his sleep as he shifted away from Sasuke.

"Shut up dobe."

That was just like Sasuke, to avoid talking her by getting on Naruto's nerves. She felt kinda upset that he hadn't said anything to her since she woke up…but he was here and that was what really mattered. She looked away from him not wanting him to see the ungrateful look in her eye. She didn't want him to think she was ungrateful.

Sakura jumped when she felt Sasuke rub the backs of his fingers along her cheek. For a moment, all she could think of was her dream and the one who had trailed his fingers down her face in just that way.

"Sasuke…were you here while I was sleeping? Were you, touching my face just a moment ago?" she gulped as she waited for the answer.

"Yea, he was….he's been here every day, he talked to you every day too. The day you woke up he was talking to you. He kept telling you to wake up, as if he ordered you enough you would obey him." Sasuke reached over, smacking Naruto for piping up. Naruto just ducked and leaned over her.

"Ooh Sakura, please wake up! I miss you so much, you just need to wake up! Oh my love, my love, please please come back to me!" Naruto pantomimed in a sing song voice, grasping his hands and batting his eyelashes.

"Shut up ursatonkachi! I never did that!"

Naruto danced around the room comically avoiding Sasuke's blows making Sakura laugh weakly at their antics. She was touched by what Naruto had told her. Maybe he hadn't been that passionate about it but he had been there…and he had talked to her. She finally wound down and smiled at them as they held each other in a head lock. You wouldn't think Sasuke would still give in to Naruto's childishness but they were all happy when he did. Naruto seemed to be the only one who could break him out of his shell and Sakura admitted it was something she encouraged. She loved seeing Sasuke animated and enjoying himself, fighting with Naruto did that for him. She only wished she had that much of a hold on Sasuke's heart, that she could bring to him what these moments with Naruto did.

When the boys had exhausted themselves, they opened the curtains, and together all three of them watched as the sun came up again. Sakura held the hand of each man who was close to her. She breathed a sigh of relief as Sasuke gripped her hand tightly, rubbing the back of her knuckles with his thumb. It was nice to be missed, it was even nicer to be back even if she never really left.


	10. Kakashi sensei your so mean

AN: thanks to every one who reviewed and faved this story and I know each of you now thanks to the new email system.

Thanks to the people who have silently born my inconsistent updates and my just plain weirdness. The unfortunate thing about writing a story that spans such a long period of time is that your ideas for the characters constantly evolve. So instead of writing a story and then looking back and asking myself how I could be that juvenile I find myself constantly re-inventing this story and characters as my views on my characters progress.

Each chapter needs to reflect this new thought while still maintaining the story

Its not easy that's for sure, but I am hoping that you guys can appreciate each chapter as more then a step ahead for the character but one for me as well.  
And again thanks for your patience and your loveAnd thanks to the people from narutofan for all their help and inspiration and reminding me why sasusaku can be fun too. 

quick note " " is talking out loud  
' ' and italics can be inner monolouge or talking

**An Affair To Forget**  
Chapter 10  
_Kakashi sensei your so mean_

Graduation day….ahh, lovely graduation day, is there any finer day to be had? Sakura didn't think so, that was for sure. She gathered her clothes and stuffed them haphazardly into the hemp bag she had been given, cramming her knick knacks and small get–well present near the top where they could be cushioned against the weight.

She still wasn't strong enough to CARRY the bag but she could stuff it so full that one of the boys would at least feel the weight, even if she couldn't get the satisfaction of knowing they were struggling.

As of today Sakura had been given a clean bill of health, she had passed the most rigorous part of the rehabilitation and she was able to walk as long as she kept it slow, but things were coming back to her at an enormous rate. They had told her today that she was fine to go home if she liked, where she would continue her physical rehabilitation on her own and under the tender loving care of Kakashi. Or 'Kakashi kare' as he liked to call it when he was being facetious, yes they had all come over to celebrate last night when they had heard the news all of them being sure to give her a hard time. IT was past the point where they would pussy foot around her wondering if any sudden movement or objection on her part to their crude behavior would send her back into a coma. No, it's true, Naruto had confessed and Sakura had had quite a good laugh on her part.

She sat on the bed once she had packed all her things and waited for the nurse to come with her discharge papers…not that she couldn't have just signed them herself but it was a formality to wait for the resident to sign the papers officially releasing her into the world.

It didn't matter; this was a great day. She waved happily at Naruto as he bounded through the door way picking up her bags and swinging onto his shoulders.

"You ready to go?" He grinned cheekily at her, bouncing on his toes, eager to get her back home where she belonged.

'what a jackass'

'shut up' and for your information that WAS NOT a man's voice…inner Sakura must have had a cold.

"Give me just a moment here comes the charge nurse with my papers."

She signed her name quickly at the bottom and then grabbed her small toiletries bag, which had not fit in the large one, and followed Naruto down the hall; she waved happily at other patients and nurses as she made her exit out of the building.

She couldn't wait to train again and she couldn't wait to be back with her team.

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"Oh my god Kakashi sensei!…..NO STOP IT!! OW OW OW OW OW!!! I SAID QUIT!!!" she tried to smack him but he was unrelenting. Sakura writhed on the ground as Kakashi stretched out her leg, pushing his fingers harshly into the muscle while grabbing and pinching the tendon. Sakura continued to cry and cuss at him.

"Fuck you let go! Goddamnit, I said stop!" She covered her eyes with her hands as he pushed her leg muscle past its endurance.

"Now, now, watch your mouth, you're a young lady... you shouldn't be talking like that."

"Fuck you!"

Kakashi just pulled harder feeling the soft end give as the muscle released beneath his fingers, it needed to be done or else her training wouldn't progress, and Sakura was just having a hard time with it.

"Uh, sensei don't you think you can-"

"Butt out Naruto, and go spar with Sasuke: He looks lonely." Naruto pouted then skulked off to go pick a fight with Sasuke.

Finally Kakashi released her leg and she lay panting in the grass as the muscles jumped in reaction.

"Ow."

"You big baby... now, that wasn't so bad was it?" she just glared at him and threw a clod of dirt at his head. "Come on, let me help you up."

This had been going on for nearly an hour and in that last hour Kakashi had been called nearly every dirty word he knew, and some he didn't. His ears were positively burning, granted Sakura had tried to behave herself at first and had taken it like a trooper despite the sweat that poured off her on this cool, early spring morning. All the way until he started on her legs at which point both Sakura and her body decided they were done for the day.

If Kakashi had been a lesser man he was sure he would be terrified of the petite woman and to some small extent he was, but she was weak right now and Kakashi was never one to pass up the chance to torture one of his loveable students. It was just so rare that it was Sakura, the novelty had yet to wear off. He avoided the blow she aimed at his head with half– hearted grace as she slumped over to the tree and collapsed on the ground.

"Uh uh, you'll just freeze up again, keep it moving missy." He grabbed her by the arm and forcibly propelled her to her feet prodding her into a slow walk around the field walking behind her and getting her to do occasional lunges and stretches on her own.  
"You touch me again and I swear to god I will come into your room at night and stab you in the crotch you sick, perverted, half eaten cud of a diseased cow." she yanked her arm away and stomped three steps ahead of him while Kakashi smiled in delight.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" normally Kakashi would never allow one of his subordinates to talk to him like that but he granted that she was in a lot of pain as she began to walk hunched over gripping her side.

"Ok, go take a cool down." she limped off and once more collapsed under the tree, Sasuke sauntered over to her and started down at her and Kakashi looked away not wanting to even know what they were talking about.

'hmm I wonder what Naruto is up too if Sasuke has his hands free.' Kakashi decided to go check it out and see what he could do to facilitate whatever mischief Naruto was up to.

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The world was cruel and it wasn't fair.  
She laid on her back and stared up at the clouds as they lazily drifted overhead. Everything hurt, there was no part of her body that wasn't screaming at her, and she threw her arm over her eyes blocking out the sunlight as her face lit on fire as she recalled all the nasty words she had thrown at Kakashi–sensei. It's not like there wouldn't have been any consequences…he just felt sorry for her right now, but he would get her back at her, that was for sure.

She felt a shadow fall across her and she looked up to see Sasuke brightly outlined by the great blue sky. A cloud outlined his head in white, completely throwing his body into darkness.

"It always hurts that bad, it's not just you." she remembered that he too had been in a coma and for not much less time then she had been out of it. So she guessed he would understand.

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?" She stuck out her lower lip and blocked him and the world with her arm, turning her face into the sweet smelling grass.

"Heh, its not hard to tell when your having a pity party." She heard the grass crushed beneath his knees and her nose was overwhelmed with the scent. She wrinkled her face trying to ward off the imminent sneeze, but relaxed when she felt his warm calloused palm wrap itself around her ankle. He coaxed her muscles into relaxation with circular movements, his fingers finding and digging into small cramped muscles kneading the pain away. Sakura sighed and slumped further into the grass.

"You shouldn't talk to him like that, he'll only get you for it later." He had rolled her onto her front and had straddled her lower back pressing his elbow into her shoulder. She grunted in agreement as his bony elbow found the pain and dug it out, she looked over shoulder and saw him smirking at her. "You talk like that during sex too you know."

"I Do not! I have never said anything like that to you!"

"Yes you have. Last time you called me a dirty bastard and told me to fuck your brains out." He was full out smiling now at her embarrassment.

"I do not!"

_'You do'_

'_I told you to be quiet._' Sakura silently screamed at the dark voice at the back of her head. She prayed that Sasuke hadn't notice any change of expression.

_'Hn'_

She lay in comfortable silence as his strong fingers kneaded her muscles, she sighed in pleasure as his weight came down on her low back. It was very comfy lying here in the grass, she sighed and tried to ignore the kink that had started in her neck….it was amazing how Sasuke could be such an unmitigated ass most times, yet he could come back and do something like this that was so endearing and sweet and-

"Stop feeling up my ass! I swear to god you are all perverts!" She rolled away from him and rubbed the offended area that Sasuke had just groped. "People are watching!"

"Who?" He asked sardonically, raising one of his elegant, perfectly formed black eyebrows that probably never needed to be plucked. _'HA! Like Sasuke would ever pluck his eyebrows…..it would take away precious training time.'_

Which now that she thought about it seemed weird, it wasn't like Sasuke to suddenly come over and want to massage her. Even as a quasi-sometimes-lover he had never been overly affectionate, he was more of a ;roll over and fall asleep' kind of guy.

Sakura quirked an eyebrow and waited for the sarcastic response…she had given the voice a perfect opportunity…._silence_. Good IT -because she refused to let IT become a person by saying HE which he couldn't be because she was a girl and therefore could not have male personalities no matter how deep and sexy they were- was finally listening to her and had decided to shut up.

Sakura knew at some point she would have to give in and admit to someone that there was now more then one voice crawling around inside her head. But really, why give people another reason to think you are strange or crazy? Wasn't it bad enough to have to admit on psyche evaluations that you have a second personality? Before becoming a chuunin, Sakura had never really delved into the fact that her second personality would become a matter of interest to her higher ups.  
But she had stolen a peek at her psyche files and had breathed a sigh of relief to find that something she had never considered anything more than an inner monologue was dubbed 'non– threatening'. The line "should seek counseling and further treatment" had kinda pissed her off, it was just like that ass of a counselor to recommend something like that. He had hated her from the moment she walked in the room and was already dubbing her crazy in his head, she just knew it.

That's why she knew that if she _did_ go to someone it wouldn't be that jerk wad. He would just up her crazy status and then the counseling would be mandatory instead of just strongly suggested. Really what the hell was so wrong about having a voice in your head? They could be very helpful…

It was at this point that Sakura found herself staring into the perplexed faces of her team mates, at some point she had drifted off. She smiled apologetically and waved as she sat down…when had she stood up?

"You did very well Sakura, I thought you were going to give me more trouble than that, but I have to say we had a very productive day." Her sensei smiled benignly at her and waved them off.

"Wait sensei...aren't we going to finish I mean I thought you said we were going to do more…" She broke off as the three of them grinned at her.

"I like to see you so spirited but its almost seven and some of us have to go eat. Go home and get some dinner, tomorrow's training will come soon enough." He waved and then puffed out of existence his newest novel already in hand. Sasuke offered to take her home but Sakura sent him on his way her mind troubled. She could have sworn that when Kakashi sensei let her rest it had been nearing five….not seven.

Sakura could honestly say that she had no idea where two hours of her day had gone, she couldn't remember finishing her training for the day. She was sore but then that wasn't new she had been sore all day, she twisted a lock of her hair around her finger as she shuffled home. If she could black out and not remember anything….then that was a problem. The kind of problem she could NOT keep to herself.

_'..Are you there?' _she asked hesitantly.

Conversations with herself had always seemed so natural and to be honest, one sided. This sort of conversation was rather new to her and she had no idea how to speak with someone (thing!) that might or might not really be there. It had really talked to her, that was for sure, but that was no indication that it was in any way real.

_'Where do you think HERE is exactly?'_

Great…the voice in her head was a smart ass, not like she needed another one.

'_In my head jackass!' _she replied sick and tired of these games.

_'What if your in my head?'_

_'No im pretty sure your in mine….im used to this sort of thing,' _she admitted candidly.

_'Ah'_

She chose to discount the fact that that one word answer was strangely and disturbingly familiar, she had heard it many times in her life this was nothing new.

Pain began to blossom at the back of her head and her feet dragged as a wave of exhaustion overcame her, she sat at a park bench and just stared ahead of her waiting for then sudden weakness to pass. She fought to keep her head up and she massaged the back of her neck trying to ease the discomfort, she put her head back trying to find a comfortable position grinding her free thumb down into a leg spasm.

The last heat of the day washed over her in waves while the cicadas sang in their hidden places in the trees, the buzzing grated on the edge of her nerves and she found herself clenching her jaw in reaction. Her eyelids grew heavy, and the park bench the only thing supporting her head and unaware she finally slumped down asleep.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

She stared up at the sign above the door: The hinges to one side had broken and it swung softly in the night breeze making a slight creaking sound. The last thing she remembered was sitting down on the park bench with a killer headache; she had closed her eyes and when they opened she was standing here in the dark. She was thankful this time that less then an hour had passed but her fears hadn't been erased in the least to find herself standing in the middle of a dark street alone with no idea how she got there.

Sakura watched as the wind once more played with the tattered sign the insignia of the Uchiha clan still bright after all these years, she heard a dog nosing about in a nearby trash can trailing a broken chain, and the loud blare of a TV down the street. Not even memories of a massacre could stop the passage of time and people lived here unwilling to recall where blood had splattered and life had been lost.

She felt tears prick at the back of her eye and she forced down the feeling of panic that threatened to choke her; wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she turned away and headed back towards the center of town.


End file.
